“Chilax”… something about that word drives me nuts.
But putting that aside for a moment, actually ‘chilling out’ and relaxing is something that doesn’t always come easily to me.
I was the one at the end of yoga class, when they said ‘clear your mind of all distractions’… I was the one who immediately started thinking about everything and anything.
Clear your mind????
Seriously… who can think about nothing? I mean as soon as you try to think about nothing you think about something even if it is just how you will clear your freaking mind!
Relaaaaaaaaaaaax…. obviously there are too many things whirring around in my head and I just need to switch off for a bit.
But how?
I used to run a deep, hot bath and sink into it. That was how I quieted my mind for a while. Not completely mind you, but enough to get some thoughts in order. I did all my best thinking in the bath.
I ‘did’, past tense, because we don’t have a bath right now.
Our shiny, new, lovely bathroom is actually our en-suite and it’s only little… too little for a bath.
Eventually there will be a shiny, new, lovely, family bathroom with an awesome, deep, long bath… but in true never ending renovations style, that is months away.
So in the mean time I need to work out a new way to unwind.
How do you do it? How do you relax?
A day at the beach or a nice long trail run usually does the trick for me. Both are a way for me to relax and unwind from the hectic schedule of most days.
No technology. Just the waves splashing or the sound of my shoes hitting the dirt as I jog along the trail.
I HATE the word chillax. Dare I say it’s one of Gen Y’s less useful language contributions.
I do know that when I make myself meditate for just 10minutes a day (and sometimes only 5 If it’s one of those days), that it brings me back down to earth. I get less flustered. I have more patience and I feel like I’ve had a little pocket of me time. I have worked VERY hard to actually adopt this practice. I’ve never found meditation easy but I discovered in my reading that NO ONE does. That is, in fact, where the power of it lies. But, like everything, when it becomes a practice, it is so much easier. I was just determined to embrace it because, after some research, I was convinced of its benefits and with 3 ittle boys under 5, I had to find something!
I keep it to 10 mins because I know it’s realistic for me, for us. But it’s MY 10 mins and I protect it fiercely! I know exactly how you feel right now. Good luck with finding what works.
We don’t have a bath at the moment either. And like you I can never turn my brain off, its always thinking about something! I started reading again, right before bed, all snuggled up under the covers. It helps me doze off otherwise I over-think all night!
I must borrow a book for myself the next time we go to the library! LOL
3d/digipaint or code.
I am not weird dammit :P
The most useful advice I heard for “clearing your mind” for people like us with minds that are physically incapable of shutting the hell up was to just let it go and let it churn through all the thoughts it wants and eventually things calm down and even if your mind is not “quiet and empty” or whatever it’s at least calmer :)
Going for a walk do it for you? Can you even get away for a walk? I’m trying to work out how you get time for a bath if you have a bath available to utilise :)
you are totally weird… but that’s how we like you.
Oh and I could have a bath when all the kids were in bed… sadly I can’t go for a walk when all the kids are in bed unless some other responsible, awake adult is here to make sure they are safe… which doesn’t happen all that often. Plus if I went for a walk now I would probably get hypothermia or be eaten by a rabid fox….