When times outside are rough – learn to be with yourself
We all feel it currently – times are very uncertain. We read the news every day, and most of the time it is not great news. This results in many of us being anxious, on edge and more aggressive than usual. People are worried about many things, be it their jobs, their finances or their health. In all of this chaos of thoughts and anxieties - it is essential that we learn to find some moments of piece and quiet, just for ourselves to reflect. Many of us have forgotten in all the external noise, to spend time juts with ourselves, to be with ourselves and specially to learn to love ourselves with all our flaws and weaknesses.
I found a very inspiring quote this week, of someone talking about how they live in times of the ongoing pandemic or any other crisis. They said in times like this they try to be “very in balance with themselves”. What it means it that in times of a lot of outer noise and turmoil, it is a time to retreat and reflect on ourselves. It is a time to cut out all the noise around us that will just trigger our anxiety and find a balance and some “Zen” within ourselves. It will give us calm and help us escape the stress around us. We need to plan in those times, almost mark them in the diary, as time out of the day to day, juts to be spent for us, to do things we like or just to sit and reflect and switch off.
The problem is, in a world where it is very easy to distract ourselves constantly, many of us have unlearned to take time for themselves. Other, are even scared to do so, as they would have to face their fears, anxieties as well as potential weaknesses. It is much easer to be consumed in the outside madness around us. We are very good in finding excuses of why we cannot find time to just be with ourselves - however we should re learn how to do this as it will make us happier in the long term.
Many of us fear sitting in a room of silence just by ourselves. For others, it is the biggest luxury, as it is cutting out all the noise, and having time to just be with ourselves. The hardest thing about it is sitting in that room, and letting our thoughts run freely, without thinking about anything that might influence in this moment from outside. It is something worth trying and we can train it.
The reasons why many of us fear lockdowns and isolation, is that this cuts out all the noise and forces us almost to juts be at home with ourselves and think. During a lockdown we don’t have distractions anymore that can be used as excuses. This is the biggest fear of some of us.
If we however overcome this fear to just be with ourselves, we have a chance to become happy, and especially to learn to love ourselves. We will discover sides on ourselves that we love and that we hate, but we can accept them, one we reflect on them. By cutting out the noise, we learn to go back to the basics of our personality and also of what we appreciate the most. Things become clearer, more certain, reaching from what we want in life to discovering new traits of our personality.
The time of winter and the year end is a great time to get back to ourselves, cut out the noise and learn to make time for treating ourselves with silence that will result in less stress, less anxiety and aggressiveness. I can only recommend finding that time at some point during the year end season. It will feel weird or even hard at the start, but it will make us happier in the end “to be with ourselves”, especially in these uncertain times. Try it – and see what you feel, I think you will be surprises of the experience as well as the consequences of taking time to find a balance within you between you and the chaos outside.
