Today I’d like to share with you my personal thoughts on a topic that is very relevant recently and which is especially close to me – the mental wellbeing.
I know for many people, this expression brings an immediate association with various clinical conditions, mental disorders, “madness” and so on, with which none of you probably (and fortunately) identifies. I will not talk about this, but rather about the chronic mental state in which a significant amount of people live without even suspecting. It is such a part of our modern life that its symptoms are difficult to notice or would not cause concern as they are perceived as a constant and “normal” part of our modern daily life.
I am talking about the mental junk food that we consume daily and which inevitably affects our mental, emotional, and physical (yes, physical) wellbeing. And no, I’m not (only) referring to the endless social media scrolling, which overwhelms us with carefully crafted pieces of so interesting and stimulating, but in fact absolutely worthless information.
If social media platforms were food, they would certainly be snacks.
I am talking about the insane amount of information that we voluntarily subject ourselves to every day. I’m also talking about the auto-generated monologue continuously running in our minds from the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we go to bed in the evening … and sometimes even after that.
Ask yourself the following:
- When was the last time you felt good being alone with yourself doing absolutely nothing – no TV, no phone, no other distraction, not even a book? Just me, myself, and I.
- When was the last time you slowly enjoyed the food you ate?
- When was the last time you stopped in the middle of a busy day and asked yourself, “How do I feel? Do I need anything?
- When was the last time you stopped in the middle of a busy day and looked around?
- When was the last time you looked closely at the lines of your palms or the flower you take care of at home?
- How many of the dozens/hundreds of tasks you do each day do you do automatically without thinking? How did you brush your teeth this morning?
If you can’t remember or it was relatively long ago, well, for most of us the same is true. Ask yourself, “Where I was in those moments?”
Where were you while grabbing a quick lunch in the 15-minute break between your meetings today, while you managed to make an appointment with friends and check out what’s new on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest? And what was the taste of the food?
Maybe “madness” is indeed an accurate word for what I’m trying to describe here.
After all, the information we choose to allow in our minds affects the quality of our lives just as much as the food we eat, and the truth is that mentally we are all overweight from overeating with all sorts of junk. And the “extra weight” is manifested in the form of stress, anxiety, robotic existence, and all sorts of compulsive disorders.
Have we really become avatars of our own selves? When did we start watching without seeing, listening without hearing, and being somewhere without being present?
I am not saying all this to convince anyone there’s something wrong with them or because I have some secret “5 steps …” recipe to share with you. I say all that because I believe it is important to talk openly about it, without prejudice, and to admit to ourselves that we may really have a problem. I say all that because the most important and first step to dealing with a problem is to acknowledge it. And besides everything else, I say it because I also suffer from this chronic disease of today’s man.
I didn’t plan to finish this post in AA style… 🙂
Well, take care of yourself and be careful about what you “eat”!