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I& #39;ve been struggling with what I now realise is / was burnout on top of cov!d-related stress and underlying negative thought patterns, but recently I& #39;ve been actively learning about what I can do to cope / get better (thread)
I think a huge part of recovering was just staying away from my phone; I couldn& #39;t quit cold turkey, but I uninstalled the apps that brought triggered negative thought patterns. Uninstalling the twitter app had the biggest positive effect on my mood.
I could still access twitter, but I had to use chrome to do so. I removed all shortcuts to insta, so I& #39;d have to consciously make a choice to scroll my app list to open it. I& #39;ve uninstalled FGO, bc I honestly didn& #39;t associate positive feelings with it.
Now it& #39;s about mindfully using the phone and asking myself why I picked it up. For what purpose am I unlocking my phone? Is it habit? is it because of an emotional/situational trigger? E.g. I& #39;m stressed I want a distraction, or it& #39;s just habit to scroll while in a queue.
Re: associated feelings. There& #39;s a username that whenever I saw, I would remember a moment when I felt insignificant & would trigger negative self-talk. Why expose myself to a reminder of something that made me feel bad? By unfollowing I removed that trigger.
Besides removing triggers of negative self-talk, by staying away from my phone I& #39;ve found more time to do actual things I& #39;ve been putting off by saying "I don& #39;t have time".
One of the things I& #39;ve been doing more is journaling. Ironically I don& #39;t write it out, instead I have a secret chat with myself on telegram. Somehow the words flow freer that way and it makes me feel like I& #39;m venting to someone instead of just stewing in my thoughts.
I& #39;ve also been living in a mess of packing materials and disorganised merch- finally I& #39;m starting to clear my living space one surface at a time, and each tidied corner makes me feel like I can breathe a bit better. Displaying merch I like reminds me of happy thoughts!
Generally it boils down to being more mindful- easier said than done but picking up the thread of negative feeling / resistance and following it to the source is easier when I think about it in third person (pls don& #39;t have this convo out loud lol)
When I& #39;m tempted to leave clean laundry in the basket: "I don& #39;t want to do it now I can do something else." But I know i& #39;ll feel guilty and useless every time I have to walk around that basket. Why doesn& #39;t Ana want to keep the laundry? Because Ana has to fold it all and there& #39;s
no surface to do the folding. Ana has to clear a surface before she folds the laundry. The surface has some unsorted bills/official letters. Ana doesn& #39;t want to sort through the reminders of bills to pay, but Ana has to pay them anyway and it& #39;ll take 5 minutes to do that online.
It& #39;s all small things, but starting somewhere and realising that small tasks can be done empowers me to finish them, reminds me that I& #39;m capable. Frees up brain space for other things, like being creative and having actual ideas.
