A Spring Clean for the mind

Okay If you are anything like me, you have a to do list as long as your arm.

From the moment you wake and turn on your phone data, bleary eyes start to blink as the messages come through.

A new day in the world comes into focus with messages, texts, apps and e mails. And it’s a tight schedule, any small mis-hap can have you running late for the day..

Your brains running 100 miles an hour, juggling, work, family, your own personal projects, retaining mental sanity and social life even if it’s at a distance.

I go from brushing my teeth thinking, I need a glass of water to wake me up.

Then to the call I had with Greenpeace about the global crisis in Yemen.

It's taken the best part of 40 years to listen to that inner voice telling me ‘Don’t balance that extra bag down the stairs as you'll drop it’

And listen to my body from the morning saying ‘have an early night and switch off’ because I know I will feel better for it tomorrow.

Busy lives need organisation!

We need to stop running along like a steam train or that rollercoaster on high speed and an emotional loop the loop.

Just before Christmas I hit a metaphorical ‘brick wall’ called Burn Out.

Just before this I had been working hard and was looking forward to the release of my upcoming Poetry book ‘New Beginnings’ and ready for some annual leave from my mentally busy Monday to Friday day job.

I dived straight into 24/7 promotions for my book, the excitement took hold and on the last night of my annual leave, my body said ‘I'm not going to let you out of bed.’

Burn out hit me with anxiety, exhaustion and left me a teary mess.

What was wrong with me? I kept crying and was feeling very sorry for myself as to how I could get into such a state.

On the phone to my Doctor just sobbing, getting out the words ‘I’m so tired’

I was in bed wondering what do I need to change in my routine to reduce stress in my life?

I had become a product of my own chaos; one I had created all by myself.

Not listening to the ‘slow down’ signs, hurtling through them and getting used to doing, doing, doing.

I forgot what it was like to be normal, or what used to be normal and most importantly I forgot how to switch off.

Only the week before I drove into the back of another car through loss of focus.

Received a speeding fine due to ‘over excitement' on the day of the book release and received a fine for parking in a nearby beauty spot without buying a ticket, because I wasn’t paying attention.

This was in a 10-day period of each other leading up to my burn out.

If they were not enough signs to take stock to say I'm heading for it, what is?

But hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I was unaware, I had not given myself time to switch off because I got used to doing too much and not listening to my inner voice.

This is what 7 days in bed taught me.

1; Mood

(Banish the Winter Blues)

I struggle with the lack of light in the winter. I’m definitely a person who appreciates aesthetics and good lighting. My environment lifts my mood.

I prefer Sunshine to the cold but have passed the days in my 20’s when I wore too skimpy a clothing for the occasion, to dress in fashion rather than substance or with practicality plus now I have a few extra pounds of belly fat for cold protection! So the cold isn’t so much the issue.

I have just become sensible enough to dress myself in enough layers now!

The long period of darkness, the driving rain when walking to work and distant dream of remembering when the last drop of sunlight touched my skin gets me down on the grey days.

My emotions are linked to the weather, having realised this I decided if I was going to get through the winter with no hope of foreign travel in sight, I decided to fool myself and create a Winter Wonderland at home!

I bought items that were easily at my disposal, a trip to the local DIY store for pots of paint and lights.

Lilac paint to brighten up the fireplace and the kitchen cupboards, moods lights in my chandelier complete with remote control for full complete colour changes. One setting synched the lights to the beat of the music and static colours ranged from Pink, Lilac, Red, Green, Yellow and Blue.

I also bought some curtain lights to hang and make a feature wall as I had no curtains, just window blinds.

It may have looked like Cotswold illuminations but I wanted to create that warm fuzzy feel and excitement once you turned it on.

I love seeing bright lights and colour. Maybe it’s the young memories of those sleepy seaside towns and spotting the arcades with bright lights and slot machines.

I remember the first-time visiting Blackpool, as a southern girl even in my 30’s I was dazzled, it was an overload to the senses.

I can say lights and colour helped ease the winter blues.

2; Reduce Mental Clutter

Switch off notifications.

This was a big one for me, being constantly distracted by notifications, because notifications actually make you feel busy when in fact it’s just the supermarket messaging you about special offers or Hermes about your delivery which you know is coming or a group messaging back and forth bleeping and bleeping. And on Facebook, why do I need to see what Sandra ate for breakfast, some messages can wait!

Because if it were that important the phone would actually ring.

I seem to had forgotten the concept of what a mobile phone was invented for!

3; Unsubscribing from mailing lists;

Yes, I still care about animal welfare but I can visit that site every week or so and sign petitions, I don’t need to see them coming through 24/7.

I have 4 e mails attached to my phone account, filled with 4,948 unread e mails on Hotmail alone.

Did I leave them unread to come back to when I had a quiet moment? Well quite clearly that moment never came!

Delete, Unsubscribe, clear the clutter, remove the junk!

Now I have given myself time slots to adhere to, for my social media.

4; Physical Health;

When movement of the mind replaces movement of the body we become unbalanced. I quite literally had to step-up! Walking is free, no excuses, deep breaths in the fresh air.

I admit I am a fair-weather walker, I don’t enjoy walking in the rain but once I was in the habit of this daily routine, I actually missed not walking, plus it feels good after you’ve been out and about.

I was enjoying wearing hats and scarves in the winter getting dressed up in bright colours to some newly bought editions, new woollens, new faux fur print coats being my favourite even if some days I looked like I was going on winter safari!

5; Dealing with Emotional Clutter

Meditation became my daily ‘pre-sleep’ night time ritual. Listening to meditation before bed. I personally resonate with the angelic realm and Diana Cooper is my favourite person of choice to guide through and feel connection with the angelic realm.

As a healing practitioner myself I neglected my emotional need for rest in pursuit of my writing goals.

I had swapped the meditation for another Instagram post and constant scrolling, it happened slowly but social media started taking over.

Sound healing works for me as music to fall asleep too.

Hertz frequencies from 852 Hz ‘let go of fear, overthinking and worries’, 528 Hz ‘Whole Body Regeneration’; Emotional and physical Healing’, 999 Hz ‘Archangel Metatron Frequency’

All from You Tube. It’s so easy to find. Take a listen and see which one resonates.

6; Daily Reminders; I had to remind myself to positively self-talk, sometimes the chitter chatter in your head isn’t conducive to your well-being, turn the negative thought into a positive one.

Because sometimes we give ourselves a hard time and let’s face it, some days will be challenging in our interactions so it’s best to have a positive face to the world.

Just feeling too busy and not making a list or feeling out of control with tasks ahead, can make us moody and irritable.

So I set up daily positive affirmations, little reminders of words that came to me to help keep positive;

‘’I am made of love’’

‘’I am happy with where I am right now’’

‘’I am at peace’’

‘’I am in the best place I can be right now’’

Whatever you decide to tell yourself, remember it’s you who’s listening and the cells in your body responding.

I have tried to adopt a ‘go with the flow attitude’ and mindful, if you're in a bad moment, it will soon pass and be thankful for all the positives in your life.

So I decided on no more projections, pushing hard to do, do, do, awareness of my mindset and the actions of a consequence.

I was thinking of buying a bright neon light sign as I step in my front door with my own affirmation ‘‘I am made of love’’ but I’ve not done that yet!

I needed to start taking time for me and my well-being and these were the places to start.

Love Victoria x