Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”
While we don’t mean to, many of us are missing out on a lot of what life has to offer. Thanks to smartphones, social media, and the internet, it’s easy to distract ourselves from present reality and fall down the online rabbit hole.
Waiting in line for coffee? Check Instagram. Flight delayed? Start a movie on Netflix. Getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist? Put on a podcast. Sound familiar?
It’s not that these things are inherently bad (we’re certainly fans of this podcast!), but when we’re constantly distracting ourselves with endless scrolling, we’re not giving our minds the space needed to think, process, and get creative.
We need quiet moments — the mental equivalent of a blank page to journal on — to slow down and get in touch with what we’re feeling and experiencing. And when we avoid these quiet moments through constant distractions, it’s easy to feel like life’s a treadmill and you’re just running, without a thought of where you’re going (or even if you want to go in that direction).
It might be hard at first (we know phone addiction is real!), but this weekend see if you can ditch the distractions, embrace the boredom and let your mind wander. Here are a few ways you can get started:
Leave your phone at home and go for a long walk. Give your attention to the beauty surrounding you and do a little self-check-in. How are you doing, really? Are you happy? Are you making progress on your goals? What are you grateful for?
When you’re waiting in line, or have a few extra minutes on your hands, resist reaching for your phone and instead be present with yourself and your surroundings. Let your mind space off to whatever thoughts are trying to surface. You may even want to daydream or visualize something you’d like to experience in your life vs. scrolling through what everyone else is doing with theirs on social media.
When you have a free morning or evening, instead of grabbing your phone and losing track of time, take advantage of this “Me Time” and open a journal or stare into the sky and consider a few things you’d like to experience this year. Take a little inventory of your life and congratulate yourself for all you’ve accomplished and get excited about what lies ahead.
Use the time to help you process your emotions around past or current events in your life. It’s cathartic to acknowledge and let things come up and out, rather than keeping them under the surface with constant distractions.
Ferris Bueller was right — life does move fast. Take some time this weekend to say ‘no’ to online distractions and give your attention to the wonderful things life is presenting right in front of you.
XO,
Emily and the EveryDay Happy Team
Quote du jour
“When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Read and Listen to More Like This
10 Ways to Relax, Recharge and Enjoy Yourself This Weekend
