Contemplating Life’s Choices

Alright, friends! The day is here. Week 1 of our 52 Weeks of Contemplation. Get your journal out or open up a blank blog post and let’s get to it. Our first question to contemplate together is:

What tools or techniques to do you use to stay grounded when bad things happen or life feels uncertain?

This question came to mind after hearing about Ken Block suddenly dying in a snowmobile accident and Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest during the Monday Night Football game. A number of people I know recently lost family or friends in the past month. Combine that with the fact my company did layoffs right before the holidays and I keep hearing companies talking about budget cut or potential layoffs in the future if the economy doesn’t improve. Oh and then tack on all the things about cold/flu/Covid/RSV season, global warming, and the state of our political system and if it’s not one thing to worry about there’s always another.

WHEW! That’s a lot right there.

Also, I’m not here to argue anything around the economy, politics, global warming, or Covid. This post is not the place for it so if you want to have an opinion on those topics go ahead and post about it on your own blog. We’re here to do some deep thinking together.

All of this led me to think about what kind of coping mechanisms, tools, or techniques do I have to help keep me from doom spiraling into a state of despair or anxiety about things? I don’t want to spend my year just doom scrolling social media every time things feel scary or out of my control. I’ve definitely done that in the past year and I want this year to be more meaningful for me.

So, here’s the point if you’re coming along on this journey go ahead and stop reading and journal your thoughts.

I really hope you paused and took the time to journal some of the things that first came to mind. You can always add to your list if anything else I share feels like something you might want to try. Ok, let’s get back to it.

For me, when I think about how do I replace doom scrolling social media with other activities the things I’m looking to do this year are exactly what I’m doing now. Writing. Posting on this blog is part creating space to explore these topics with anyone who cares to come across this corner of the internet but it’s also part just for me. If nothing ever comes of this, that’s ok. It’s not for anyone but for me.

I also want to remember that music has the power to change my mood and perspective almost instantly. Sometimes I feel that, with the right playlist anything is possible. Sometimes I want a playlist to help me feel the pain or emotions I’m experiencing and other times I want the playlist to empower and excite me. I am that person who creates and recreates playlists all the time.

The other tool I want to tap into more often is yoga. I actually completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program through the Bodhi Yoga studio in Provo, UT. I want to get back into my personal practice because I remembered why I even did the training in the first place. After I had our first baby, looking back, I was really depressed and anxious. I probably had postpartum depression and possibly PTSD from my son’s traumatic birth. The one thing that brought me out of that funk was when I started going to yoga classes because my friend was getting her certification and the way it changed how I felt was instant and was life changing. I want to tap back into that for myself and I’m thinking about how I can share that with others.

The last thing I want to share here is that I want to remind myself to balance that “life is short”/“don’t go to bed mad” type of thing with the fact that for some life is long and life is beautiful. I want to remember that I need to live in today but also know that sometimes it’s ok to doom scroll social for a minute. I want to remember that there are some things worth prioritizing and doing my best at while giving myself the grace and space to learn and grow when I feel I could do better. I want to live part seize the day and part do the things that will set us up for our long term future because we have no way of knowing when our time will end. I don’t want to fall into the hustle and grind culture but I also don’t want to let opportunities pass me by if they are the right ones for me.

I want to sit with these thoughts a little more so for now I’ll wrap up with the invitation to jot down the things that help you stay grounded, process, or otherwise cope when things get scary or uncertain or feel out of control. Write paragraphs or write a bullet list. Draw pictures or drop your words in one of those AI tools that turns words into pictures.

I’m truly interested in hearing what others are doing to manage life these days. And if you happen to be in a place where life feels easy and you’re not struggling that’s great too. It may be worth thinking about what tools you would have used in the past during hard times or what you can start doing now to build your toolkit to weather challenging times.

Feel free to drop a link to your blog in the comments if you’re participating or keep your thoughts personal and close to you in your journal. I hope our first question has been worth contemplating.