Thinking Out Loud

Sound familiar? We’ve briefly discussed a few ways to detox from your work week before but I figure we should revisit this topic at least once a year. Lately I’ve found this more challenging, I aint gonna lie to ya. With so many tasks at hand, it’s friggin difficult to find the fortitude to allow yourself…time FOR yourself. I tend to think about all the tasks I haven’t completed and then it’s so easy to get caught up in the “social media twilight zone” (that weird zoned out state where all you do is scroll through your feed for like an hour without even blinking). Here are a few more tips I’ve found help to avoid getting lost in the proverbial social media black hole and taking BACK your free time.

1) Call an old friend: This sounds kind of corny but I find that when I get super distracted during the week and throughout the month, I get more and more selfish. Those closest to us tend to get the least amount of attention at times. I think it has something to do with knowing they'll always be there. Like, your family will always be your family and your best buds should always be there, right? It's these comforting thoughts that make it easier to put off paying those we love the most, the most attention. It's because we know they'll always be there that we should take the time to see, chat and laugh with them. Even if it's only for an hour at a coffee shop or simply stopping by their work during lunch. I am going to try and take my own advice with this one this week.

2) Try a new recipe: Okay, so even if you don't like to cook, just give it a go. There's a small (or sometimes large) sense of accomplishment when you cook for yourself and for others. After all, food brings people together in pretty much every culture. Take the time to pick out your ingredients, read or don't read a recipe, YouTube how to do stuff (like when I had to look up how to braise, julienne and all those other fancy words). Most of the time, it won't be as difficult as it looks.

3) Do something nice for someone else: Tis the season to pay it forward guys. Well in reality it should always be the season but let's be real, the holiday season brings out the best and the worst in people. It's weird. Whether it brings out your best or not, take 30 seconds out of your day to give a compliment to a stranger. Buy someone behind you that coffee, send out a thinking of you card (those paper things that fold and have funny notes in them) or simply give someone a nice phone call. I was out with my dad the other day and some random girl about my age came up to me and complimented my outfit. I felt like absolute crap that day and her choosing to say that to me, literally made my day turn right around.

So in short, be nice to one another friends. Most importantly, like Tom Hatherford would say, “treat yo self”.