Enjoy it

Carpe diem.

***

In my life, I have spent too much time worrying.

I worry about how I look.

I worry about what I am doing.

I worry about what I’m not doing.

I worry about what others think of me.

I worry about my distant future.

I worry about my near future.

I worry about everything.

Everything can be stressful if you make it.

Enough thinking, and you have thought yourself into thinking that you’re thinking too much which makes you think you’re stressed.

Too many thoughts, constantly nagging at me to make me feel uneasy.

WHAT IF YOU JUST LET THE DAY BE THE DAY?

What if rather than stressing every single action and planning every moment to a tee, you just let life happen?

Things might be a little more enjoyable.

It is a constant battle in my mind of productivity vs relaxation.

My intuition tells me I need to work, work, work, while my body and mind are giving me signs that they can’t take anymore.

So I have decided to start seizing the day. I will no longer stress about what I think I should be doing, and instead just do what feels right.

Today, it felt right to just be outside.

I got done working and went to the nearest baseball field to play some ball. In that moment, my mind forgot about the stressors that keep me tense throughout the day, I simply just lived. After that, it felt right to go play disc golf, so I did. I went and just let it happen.

Something about being in nature allows you to forget about all the things that were bugging you before.

You start to realize that they can’t hurt you.

THE ONLY THING THAT WILL MESS WITH YOUR HEAD, IS YOUR HEAD.

You create your own stress.

When faced with stress, I tell myself 3 things.

1. At some point, it will end.

2. I can handle it, no matter how bad.

3. There is always somewhere I can go to escape.

The bad times always end, you just have to let life happen. Stress becomes more stressful when you think it is stress. If you tell yourself you are stressed, you are. Your body produces stress to keep you safe, but self-made stress is no longer protecting you. Train yourself to see stress as a challenge and adversity as another hurdle to jump over.

You will always find a way to get through it. No matter how bad it gets, the worst thing that can happen is always the last thing that will happen to you. Once it gets that bad, it will end anyway. Don’t let it be a dead end, find the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes that tunnel is longer than you expect, but you just have to keep moving til you see the light, it will come.

You can always escape within your own mind. When I am not enjoying where I am, I close my eyes and imagine a place I do enjoy being. I have been able to discover this ability through consistent meditation. The first time I ever felt it was when I was meditating and I opened my eyes for a brief second and saw something that reminded me of my childhood. I was so deep in meditation that my mind instantly transported me back to that moment, a memory I didn’t know existed. Now, I have found a way to create this feeling whenever I want. That way when I am in a situation I don’t want to be in, I can still escape.

Stress is a real thing, but the prolonged, detrimental stress is controllable with the mind.

Don’t let your perceived challenges overwhelm you.

Life gets a lot harder if you let it.

Take a moment and just realize where you are. Recognize the moment you are in. Let things happen. Seize the day.

Life is too short not to enjoy it.

***

Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.