Every once in a while I have the sudden realization that I’m taking life way too seriously. Unfortunately this usually comes in one big wave and I have to take a step back and kind of laugh. Why do I care so much about so many stupid little things?
The thoughts that tend to take over are usually just trying to make sense of life itself and plan accordingly. Everything from health to finance to emotions to career path to purpose… it’s so easy to try and understand, then make plans and goals and lose sight of the bigger picture.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what you end up doing or howyou end up doing it. My most fond memories come from taking risks and not being so serious about my life. Being goofy around my favourite people and then laughing about nothing with them, being the coolest auntie on the block to my niece and nephew and becoming a kid again, trying new things for the first time to challenge myself, and pushing boundaries with what I already know. The most recent time I came to this realization was when I went rock climbing with my family this year.
I have gone rock climbing a few times growing up, but I never made it up to the top of the wall. I kept going about life just accepting that it’s not for me and I will never make it up. However, when I went with my family it was during a time that I was stressed out about life in general and having a hard time coping with it. Suddenly, my fear of heights and falling didn’t seem worse than the anxiety I had been experiencing all day every day, so I made it all the way to the top with ease. I completely surprised myself and it felt so good to accomplish.
It was a nice slap in the face that life is supposed to be fun, challenging, adventurous, and inspiring. I thought my days of rock climbing were behind me, because it was always something that we did with our school. It was a nice reminder about how exciting it is to try something new, and that the every day “problems” don’t really matter. This was just one example of many, but if you feel like you’ve been stressing out over way too many things all day every day, remember to take a step back and realize that you are, in fact, taking life too seriously.
One thing I have learned about myself is that I need to make sure other people are also not taking things too seriously because I know what it feels like when we do. I strive to surround myself with people that have the same mindset because I know that it will benefit everyone in times that we need it the most.
Something occurred to me the other day. I was cleaning the house and putting in the laundry then I thought to myself… why does life seem to be mostly sleeping, cleaning and eating? Will I look back at my life and remember all the good times when I did the dishes? Then I got really deep – “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?!”
Seriously though, we spend about 8 hours sleeping, then a few hours eating, and 8 hours working for a lot of us, then a couple hours cleaning our environment or ourselves. It’s funny because most people consider a fulfilling life to look like a lot of highlight reels going around on instagram right now. You’ll see people skydiving, hiking alps, skiing, bouldering etc… but this is such a minor part of their lives. For most people anyways… but it’s weird when you realize everything else they did that day. First they slept, ate some food, showered and got ready, washed their dishes if they weren’t too lazy, maybe drove for hours and hours and took a nap at that point, went through getting rentals or what have you… Then took a super cool looking picture.
So why do we focus so much on wild things we should be doing “like everyone else”? Most of our lives consist of routine, everyday tasks so we might as well enjoy it. I’ve considered making a post saying “I washed, dried, AND folded all of my laundry today, I hope you can too! We are in this together!” but I guess that’s a little strange to most people. All the necessary cleaning that goes on seems like such a chore, especially after such a long day. I can’t even imagine how it feels with kids. So I have a few thoughts to consider in how to make the most of your life and come to accept the tasks it consists of.
Laundry – the never ending cycle
Why do we do laundry? Well it makes our clothes smell good, gets rid of dirt etc that has been collected throughout the day, and gives us confidence when we are walking out the door. So there you go, we do laundry in order to feel better about ourselves.
Dishes – the worst
Why do we do dishes? Well it allows us a vessel to put food and beverages in, and to be able to make fun food creations also known as meals. It’s a lot nicer to have a satisfying shiny plate to eat off of rather than a well-used one. It’s like creating a blank canvas for the endless possibilities of food consumption. Exciting… isn’t it?!
Vacuuming – the easiest form of physical activity
Why do we vacuum? Well it cleans the floor so we can walk around without socks on. Very liberating… but also it’s like playing Pac-Man, you can see all of the items on the floor so you’re able to chase it around until it gets eaten by the vacuum. Having fun goals like these is the most motivating way to get you moving around the house. Not to mention you need to turn your cleaning music on super loud since you can’t hear anything. And what does loud music lead to? DANCING.
Sleeping – priming for the activities ahead
Why do we sleep? Well there’s tons of science as to why we need to so let’s just accept that we use those 8ish hours to prime for the day ahead. Once we get over the fact that 1/3 of our ENTIRE LIFE is spent rather unconscious, then we can be grateful as to how a great sleep can affect everything else. I’m sure a lot of you believe you will never dance and enjoy vacuuming, however, what if you had an amazing deep sleep and started the day bursting with energy? And you just got a promotion? And you realize you baked cookies last night and see them on the counter? Had it not been for a 10/10 sleep, maybe you wouldn’t quite feel like dancing. But thanks to our amazing bodies and everything it does while we are sleeping, we can be fully recovered and prepared for a whole new day of eating, cleaning and after our energy is depleted, sleeping!
I hope you look at today with a slightly different view – all the things you don’t want to do are actually so worth it and not a waste of time. Have fun with it any way that you can. I would love to know what you do to make every day tasks more exciting!
Every day, we consume information in all sorts of forms. We wake up, look at our phones to check messages, emails, social media and everything in between. We hear what other people have to say, we have decisions that need to be made and not to mention, our jobs take up 8 hours of our day! For some people these 8 hours are spent doing boring, mundane tasks given to them by their manager or supervisor. Consuming can be beneficial for learning or for fun, but over-consumption doesn’t leave room for our own thoughts and ideas.
What happens after work?
I’m speaking from personal experience here – what do I do after work on most days? I come home feeling tired, lazy and just want to numb out any thoughts. I either cook dinner or order in, but immediately want to watch a show on Netflix while I’m eating, after I’m eating and can’t think of anything else to do except browse my phone, play video games or watch MORE Netflix!!! It’s like my brain cells have been completely used up by work and I no longer want to think. If you don’t have room to think, how can you create?
We spend most of our days at work, and especially for younger people who are trying to grind in order to make a resume look pretty. Can you imagine what we could think of or come up with if we had nothing but time? Well I’m finding a lot of free time during quarantine and I am happier than ever – I don’t feel stressed, anxious or depressed. I feel positive, inspired and optimistic. This seems strange during a pandemic, but I didn’t realize how much of my energy was going into the daily work I was doing that was for someone else. There’s truly something special about creating something by yourself that is very liberating.
Why is it important to create?
When something feels like a task it usually no longer feels enjoyable. I could type out an essay about how to be a creator and not a consumer at a desk job as a project, however, I would probably have to follow guidelines, it might not have been my idea and I would have the time pressures of getting it done. Right now as I sip on coffee and am in my super comfy housecoat, I am loving typing this out because I’m excited to share my idea with the world to help inspire others.
Everyone on this planet has their own experiences, their own brain and there are infinite possibilities with what can be created. Imagine if you sat down to paint a flower instead of look at memes on your phone for hours. Why would this be beneficial? Well first of all, you would be learning a skill. You would be mindful in what you are doing. And you would end up with something that YOU created! Before sitting down to paint that flower, you didn’t know what would end up being on that page. But now it’s there. ISN’T THAT AMAZING?! Would you feel the same after looking at hundreds of memes on your phone? I don’t think so.
Implement creativity every day
I think a huge factor that could help save our brain power has a lot to do with using our phones, as most of us cannot change what we need to do at work. I’ve researched many ways on how to treat our “phone addiction” because I find it fascinating how much I use my phone without realizing. It’s also quite worrisome as to how much I say to myself “only one YouTube video before bed,” or “I’ll only browse through Reddit for a few minutes this morning,” or, “I don’t need to see all this stuff on social media” only to find that I’ve spent hours doing all of these things.
One thing that I’ve found to be useful is to delete apps that aren’t useful to you for your own personal growth. Especially if you want to work towards something and are procrastinating, getting rid of all distractions is essential. In addition to deleting useless apps, try not to use your phone for an hour after you wake up, and to put your phone away an hour before bed. I’ve heard of people who have baskets in their house for everyone to put their phones in so they can interact with each other and connect on a human level. So far, I’ve found that I have enough self-control to just leave my phone and block out times throughout the day to check anything new that has come in. I have found that my conversations with my boyfriend are wholesome and it’s much nicer knowing we are both listening to each other rather than kind of paying attention while still being on our phones.
So how can you implement creativity every day? Perhaps write a list of things you enjoy doing and why you enjoy doing them. Or anything that you’ve wanted to do for a long time but haven’t gotten around to doing. I’m sure all of us can think of at least one thing that requires creativity, but we haven’t been able to do it because our brains are already full of other things. Once your main distractions are gone, really dive deep on what interests you and just do it! Just start. There is nothing to lose when you are creating something and leaving a mark in this world, but there is valuable, unique talent wasted when you are consumed by everything around you.
Ashley's Adventures 