Did you have a nice weekend? I’ll hear that a lot today, getting back to work after a long weekend. I’ll probably ask it myself once or twice.
And how will I answer?
This morning, lying in bed the last few minutes before getting up, the thought floated through my head, I didn’t do anything yesterday.
Whoa. That caught me off guard. Because I did “do something” yesterday. I took a seven mile hike. Up a hill. In the rain.
Of course, afterward I spent the rest of the day in my comfy chair reading because I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. But I did hike seven miles, before sitting in that chair.
I can clearly see there is a part of me that doesn’t consider that “doing anything.” I didn’t accomplish something worthy; check something off of my “to do” list that I won’t need to do again. This probably explains why any sort of exercise has not been on my radar the last couple of years. Why I’ve been struggling to make time for these hikes. Because to my old mindset, I’m not accomplishing anything.
My sore muscles today tell me otherwise. My photographs tell me otherwise. I just need the message to get through to my head.
Making changes that affect ingrained belief systems, whether we want them lingering or not, is hard. It takes recognizing the thought patterns, and then changing them. I’m at the first step, the recognition of the damaging thoughts.
Whether my brain likes it or not, these hikes are here to stay. And I’ve discovered It’s not just my body that needs the conditioning. Apparently my brain needs retraining too.
Sounds like a perfect day!
I hear ya as I obviously have the same problem. After the sporty part is over and there is absolutely no creative energy to do anything else but relax my mind has the same satisfaction of telling me how I managed to waste yet another day. The right balance seems to be the answer for me, but I can’t really swear on it yet 🙂
Oh my goodness. If I am not cleaning or cooking I am doing ‘nothing’
Brain re-training is exactly what I need. Thanks!
SO true, glad you went hiking & it certainly is doing something! The photos look beautiful.
retraining the brain – another way of reframing, this one with words and self talk, rather than through the view finders as many of us are use to…..
Wonderful post. And so true. We seem to have difficulty recognizing the distinction between truly “doing nothing” and doing something different that IS something. And I’m even learning that “doing nothing” completely and totally isn’t such a bad thing at all!