Tips for approaching your busy lifestyle with mindfulness and clarity

Cell phones in-hand, Applewatch fully charged and earbuds activated- have you ever thought to yourself and wondered, “When do I actually have a moment without outside stimuli?”

As technology continues to develop ways to help you multitask, seamlessly integrating your work and leisure activities we get closer and closer to being able to do it all, and do it all at once! 

While these technological advancements have rapidly become the rule, and no longer the exception, technology can create an overwhelming amount of activity for our brains. As remarkable as the human brain is, it unfortunately has not evolved as rapidly as technology and you may experience a common phenomenon, known as overstimulation.

Here are three tips to help you break up the static and live in the moment.

No News IS Good News

If you find yourself battling alarms, and notifications from sun up to sun down consider this, did receiving all those notifications actually help you function for the day? Doing a notification cleanse can help you to stay connected while prioritizing information you truly need.  For example, simply focusing on home when you’re physically within the walls of your home  is an excellent way to be present and in the moment. Another benefit of this cleanse is that your family will notice your deliberate attempts to focus on them and the things that matter.

Complete a notification cleanse by going into your phone’s notification settings and simply turning off notifications for apps like social media, work email, or any nuisance that is impacting you the most negatively. 

You can go cold turkey and turn everything off, or you can strategically wean yourself off of a few app notifications a week.  

If a notification cleanse is too drastic for you, there are other ways to limit the expectations that others may have of your time. Consider the tool most beloved by office associates- The Vacation Responder, otherwise known as the, Out of Office Autoreply.

However, in this instance, you set it to reply to emails when you aren’t on vacation! Now, we aren’t lying to everyone, the point is you set the responder to simply indicate that you will respond to emails between a set time frame, say Tuesday-Thursday from 3p-4p, or an hour before you leave the office. This impedes habitual checking of emails throughout the day and maximizes your time when you do check email while improving focus. Others know when they can expect a response from you and after a few weeks, you can turn the auto reply off, because you'll have built a new productive habit! 

Talk is Actually Cheap!

The feelings of overwhelm and overstimulation can be daunting. It helps sometimes to simply be able to talk to someone. No, gossiping with your bestie is not the plan, but therapy is! Technology has drastically improved access to mental healthcare professionals with the convenience of virtual visits allowing your therapist to come to you! With networks such as Grow Therapy providing copays as low as $10/ session, addressing your mental health is much more feasible and affordable.