My fiancée and I are addicted to closing our rings on Apple Watch. There are a plethora of physical activity/step counting devices out there like Fitbit, which are a bit more affordable. I love the Apple Watch for many reasons, but the workout tracking and rings is my favorite feature by far. I know a lot of people that have the watch but actually turn these features off so it’s not pinging them to stand every hour…or telling them they need to move more. I find it to be very helpful, though. Especially on hectic days when you feel like the phone screen and computer monitor have you stuck in their orbit.
OCD may or may not be a factor in my need to close all of the rings everyday…haha. As someone who gets immense satisfaction from seeing a progress bar slowly fill to 100%, it’s no wonder I’ve become addicted to this little black square on my wrist telling me to stand and move!
As most people are mentioning on here, exercise is extremely important to incorporate into a daily routine, but it’s also very difficult to execute and maintain without proper guidance and knowledge of workouts and dieting– which we may not all be masters of… At the end of the day, a nice long walk at a brisk pace for 30-60 minutes can make a world of difference and is a good start. Also making sure you get up and move for a few minutes at least every hour. Fitness tracking devices can be helpful for these daily routine changing activities– they aren’t just for tracking long runs and hefty gym workouts.
For those that don’t have a device and can budget one, I couldn’t recommend it more.
For those that do have one but don’t pay attention to the stand alerts or try to close the rings, maybe try and set a 1-week ring closure goal for yourself! I did that last year and now I’m closing in on a 220 day streak… Slow and steady wins the race most of the time. Small steps can and will lead to bigger rewards!
Finally someone I can empathize with. I go through these bouts of intense guilt for taking care of myself, especially during COVID. “With all the pain and suffering in the world, why do I deserve to have separate distinct eyebrows and no gingivitis?”
I feel like being outside for me is a type of meditation. It takes me outside of my head and allows me to concentrate on observing. My girlfriend likes to make fun of me calling me an old retiree because during the summer I endlessly commented on birds I hadn’t seen before doing weird shit or squirrels digging up my flower beds. Taking a hike and seeing some stuff rights my ship. Exercise as many have noted is also a must for me. Additionally, I started learning a new language on Duolingo. It’s something so vastly different from the day job that I feel it works a different part of my brain. That may not be true, but it feels like it. It also gives me a different sense of accomplishment that pushing pixels for a client doesn’t.
Since I started in this industry I got like a “workaholic” quite fast, which I didn’t really noticed until I was near a burn-out (which is just a more comfortable wording for depression).
I recognized that when my thoughts were all about work, worst case scenarios and I couldn’t sleep well any more. This was the point where I jumped over my shadow and searched for professional help.
And boy… How my life changed! I kind of totally forgot how to enjoy stuff away from work.
I’ve started to read books again, living my third-wave-coffee-routine every morning and force me to ban any work-related thoughts out of my brain, when work is over.
Since then I’m used to actually mediate for a couple of minutes if things get stressful and I have the urge feeling to settle my mind back to reality. I’m using an app called Headspace, which offers some really nice meditation sessions. But I don’t know if that is available outside of Germany.
To be honest, I had quite a stigma about psychological treatment and mental self care. But I proofed myself wrong about that the hard way and I strongly encourage everybody to throw those old mantras away and start seeing themselves and everybody else as human beings, doing their best and loving what they are doing.
Edit: And I’ve started to learn the guitar… Used to make music in my younger times. And playing an instrument really distract my brain from everything else.
Did a mindfulness class a few years back and really loved it. Have only fired it up recently to manage stress. Fwiw I can remember feeling stressed but not why, so that’s a win.
I did/do like it, but I’ve got lab rat brain and need too much media pouring into me when available. Probably why I like riding the chairlift now: nothing to do but breathe and look around.
I try to meditate in the morning or if I’m lazy another time of the day.
Sometimes only for 5 minutes, or 10 or 15. Been listening to a lot of podcasts
en reading books in this times about health and spirituality. And meditation is one common factor in most of
the daily rituals that those people have.
On Netflix there is also a small instructional/educational video
by Headspace, about meditation and mindfulness. Enjoy!
I am meditating every day in the morning, 10 to 15 minutes. I started with Headspace and I am following a mix of techniques I learned now. My wife is teaching Yoga and Meditation so that is helpful to keep me going with it and learning new techniques.
Meditating really helped me coping with stress better, now when the unavoidable crazy ask from the client and or agency occurs I just step back and take some deep breaths instead of going into full on stress mode. Way better that way
The other thing I try is to do at least a few minutes of workout everyday (push us, crunches etc.), just to balance our job that is mostly brain work.
As mentioned by many others, diet is huge. I cut out / severely minimized sugars/starches last year and it’s made a huge difference in how I feel and general energy levels. Lots of protein, veggies, and flavor Made it a point not to sacrifice food that tasted great. Dropped 25# as a result. Now I allow myself a cheat here and there…
Bikepacking has been a great way to motivate me to train, and bike / camping adventures give me something to look forward to, on the physical care front. Golf when I can, or at least the driving range. Looking forward to getting back to the snow as well…
Playing music has always been a huge thing for my mental / spiritual well-being, and whenever I have time, I’ll get myself “in the zone” (If you’ve seen Soul)
I used to also have a Thai massage place I would go to get cracked and turned into a pretzel, but since covid, that’s taken a back seat…
Other than that, just getting away from screens and chairs is a pretty good rule of thumb, I’d say.
When on holiday, i refuse to look at work emails or even switch the computer on.
At weekends, get out into the garden and dig or build…find a project that is so far removed from editing…something more physically demanding than push a wacom pen around.
Fresh air and hard labour seem to clear the brain cells and help invigorate me. Surprising how many good ideas i get when not sat at the screen.
In the video game “Silent Hill 4” there is a mechanic where the apartment you are trapped in starts to physically harm you and you have to remove the bad spirits by lighting candles.
At the time I was depressed and noticed the similarity with my own messy pile of a living space, so I set about cleaning it up. It helped. A lot. I like to think I’m a completely rational person and that the appearance of my living space should not be able to affect me, but it does.
So I’m grateful for what is otherwise the shittiest entry in the Silent Hill franchise. (Note, there are only four games in this franchise and I will not hear otherwise)
I walk outside everyday for 45min - 1 hour. Exercising 3x a week. Once we all went on lockdown last year it was sporadic. But since the beginning of the year its been consistent and glad I do it. Definitely helps me.
If you don’t have one by now, I highly recommend you have a routine and stick to it. Get up at the same time every morning and have a structured bed time every night.
I know some people have trouble with this, so something you can do instead which is VERY effective, is to take back your commute!!! I’m talking to YOU @andymilkis since you’re always talking about missing your train commute.
You can set aside an amount of time each day and sit by yourself in a quiet place. If you have a spot in your house, great. If you need to go walk out to your car to get it, then go do that. If you used to take the train, go sit in your car with your laptop/phone/book and set a timer for the duration of your train ride…30 minutes? An hour? If you’re used to driving into work, go drive around the block or something. Spend that commute time on yourself. Punch out of work, go do your commute, then “come home”. It’s an amazing brain-reset to change gears, keeps the car battery charged, and gives you much needed personal time. Even gets you a few steps in as you walk out there. You could spend it reading. You could spend it driving. You can learn python. You can call a friend. But it’s your time all to yourself. Game changer.
I really have to agree with the commute philosophy. Last year when lockdown started, after a week or two I started walking to work, then back home every morning. It made a HUGE difference.
Diet and exercise is key. But keyer (see what i did there) is getting away. I fly fish (I know, weird) but the fish i chase don’t live in ugly places…couple days catching up with mum nature will set your mind right.
The other end of the spectrum…i still play hockey a couple times a week and bike the Chicago lake front to fill in the gaps. I also threw in a few adjustments to the diet and i’m down 12lbs since the new year. Its the little victories.
Made it a point not to sacrifice food that tasted great. Dropped 25# as a result. Now I allow myself a cheat here and there…
