Rituals…

I think rituals are an important part of staying sane in our current turbulent times and for dealing with the anxiety that accompanies many of our lives. Shit is not easy right now and I know a lot of people are scared of the uncertainty of what the future holds, I know I sure am, but there are some ways that can make things feel a little more “regular”. For me this involves rituals or small actions that I do daily or as close to it as I possibly can. It’s important to give oneself leeway, sometimes it’s just not going to happen. Some personal examples of rituals for me are to exercise at pretty much the same time everyday, cooking afternoon snacks, and trying to organize the next day before it comes even if it’s just one thing, or as simple as spending ten minutes outside in the sun. I always struggled making plans and I still get anxiety around planning from time to time, but I have found that it actually feels pretty good to have a plan, even if it doesn’t pan out exactly the way you want it to. For me the sudden lack of activities that I was used to doing was causing a lot of depression and lack of motivation to even try and do anything because “what’s the point”. Recently in order to combat this dilemma, I’ve been trying to be “productive” in occupying my time with simple rituals, as I’m calling them, in order to momentarily forget about the anxieties I might be currently struggling with. In the past I probably would have just smoked a bowl and said fuck it, a good option for a brief momentary escape from reality, but these days I haven’t been smoking as much and I find myself searching for more lasting ways of coping with these situations and personal anxieties. Now I don’t think it is healthy to work yourself into the ground trying to be the most productive version of yourself, but I do think that small steps and simple actions can help kickstart motivation and make one feel just a little bit better.