The Rubik’s Cube of the Mind
Moving pieces.
Sometimes there’s not many, and sometimes there’s a lot!
Last week it felt like there were a lot, and on Saturday morning I took myself off, to have a quiet 30 minutes lying on the grass on a green in the sun, early in the morning.
Wonderful.
And thanks to a brilliant mum, and wonderful wife and family, over the course of the weekend things were kindly taken off my plate and onto others.
I used to call the situation of having too many moving parts brain ache. But what it really is, is overwhelm.
Something I’ve only really acknowledged, or become aware of, in recent years.
As we go through life we learn more about ourselves.
I am learning that I need to find a fine balance between being busy and doing too much. It’s a fine balance for me because if I do too little, then I’m tempted to start doing something else, which could end up causing me to do too much.
It’s a balance, but one I am slowly beginning to find.
Overwhelm and anxiety seem to be the disease of my generation.
Whether this is because people talk more about it now, or if it’s because lifestyle, society and expectations (perceived or real) have changed I’m not sure. But there’s very few people I know of my age who haven’t suffered from anxiety or overwhelm.
What does it mean?
Honestly I’m not sure, but I am confident it’s not a good thing. It’s something I will do my very best to make sure my children never get. But I also believe that a shift in society, wealth, debt and expectations have been compounded with social media to create it.
The problem is how do we solve it, and I sure as heck don’t have the answer!
They’re doing some amazing work in the Scandanavian countries, but whether their models will work on larger populations is still yet to be seen.
I’m very interested in both the causes and the solutions.
How do we resolve it?
Dastardly suggests playing an instrument and listening to music.
Fresh air makes a big difference to me. Even a fifteen minute walk can relax me.
(note to self, I need to do that during the day more often!)
There’s a lot to be said for understanding yourself, how you tick. At 40, I think I’m only just beginning to do that, although those around me have probably known for years what I am just discovering.
But let’s be honest. Learning more about yourself can be surprising and exciting, but also frightening and disappointing. Most likely it will be all of them.
What we need to understand is that… feeling all of those things is okay.
By accepting who we are, and learning to work to our strengths, I think we’re bound to have happier, more fulfilled lives.
Have a great week.
Michael Wilding
P.S. Thank you for all the replies I had to last week’s email, it was wonderful to hear from you and I hope you will get in touch every week.
P.P.S. Dastardly has suggested I take up the trumpet, I’m not sure I’ll be very good at a trumpet, but I did bring my guitar out of storage the other day, so maybe...
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