Mental Health Day 2020

If you had told me in January I would be writing this, I would have probably laughed. But, now I want to talk about doom scrolling, mindfulness, and meditation. What’s good for us and what is bad?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been spending more time sitting in front of a screen than ever before. Since the pandemic started my screen time has gone from an average of three and a half hours a day, to six or seven hours a day. (It’s worse when I wasn’t working in April and got up to eight hours a day for a week.) All this scrolling and tapping and streaming has caused a lot of people to have increased levels of anxiety. This action has been affectionately named “Doom scrolling”. 

Luckily, dear reader, I have a couple of handy tools that have been helping me during all of this to curb my doom scrolling!

First, limit screen time. I know, easier said than done. However doing things like setting time limits on certain apps, or in some cases deleting them all together can help to cut down the time you spend scrolling endlessly through Facebook or Instagram. For me, the two apps causing me the most woes were Facebook and Twitter, so I deleted one and put a twenty minute time limit on the other! I found out quickly I didn’t miss the one I deleted, and it was super helpful to limit my time in the other. On top of limiting time on apps, unfollow or mute the people who seem to be posting things that are causing you the most emotional distress. 

Secondly, try to stay active in hobbies. Instead of being married to my couch, scrolling through Tiktok like a zombie, I try to keep myself busy with sewing and gardening. Hobbies that involve being outside are especially great because you get a dose of victim D. These activities can help you connect with nature, which usually involves more movement and is great for the mind!

Third, I try and practice Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment, and noticing how it feels to be in that moment without being judgmental of those feelings. This practice can be helpful for anyone who finds that their emotions or thoughts feel overwhelming. Mindfulness meditation has shown to be really wonderful for relaxing and calming down the part of a nervous system that controls our fight or flight response. 

You can actually practice mindfulness very easily at the spa! While in a service, try to focus on what your provider is doing. Ground yourself into the feeling of the soft sheets on the table, the pressure of the therapist’s hands, the smells of the aromatherapy. Really try to focus on a single sensation, be it touch, sound or smell. When you notice your mind wandering, notice where it wandered too, and gently return it to what your focus is. 

If you’re interested in mindfulness, some tools I’ve found helpful include the app Headspace and the book I am Here Now! Adding some mindfulness practice in place of doom scrolling has taken a good amount of the stress out of my daily life, and I hope it can do the same for you!

– Taylor

SRC LMBT, Blogger, Mask Maker, etc.