Mental Health

Something I have thought about a lot since the pandemic took hold, was that we need to make sure we are taking care of our mental health. It’s important that we take a few minutes everyday to do something for just ourselves. It might be a few minutes to focus on Kung Fu, or a walk outside, or just sitting outside in the sun.

I have tried to apply this to myself as best as I have been able to, and this morning I got to thinking about a strategy that I have employed for many, many years. While thinking about it today, I made the connection that this is something that being in the I Ho Chuan taught me unbeknownst to me. I’d like to share this with you.

It requires you to break down things into small bite size pieces. 50,000 pushups is a daunting task until you break it down into daily requirements, and then it’s even easier once you look at how many sets of 25 you have to do in a day. Suddenly it’s that much easier to accomplish. I’ll use my process from when I worked for the government, as I think it’ll illustrate my point the best.

I would wake up with my alarm and not feel I had the mental strength to face the day. But, my kids still had to go to school. So I would get up, and while I was getting the kids out the door, I would tell myself to just get dressed at least. I can let myself go back to bed once the kids are out the door. Then once they were out the door, I would challenge myself to at least go to work since I was already dressed. I could change my mind when I got there. Once I would get there, I would again challenge myself to just get through a couple of hours. Then my next goal was lunch, then by the time that passed staying was easier, and got easier as finishing the day approached.

The strategy is simply setting small goals, and as we know, small things do add up to big things. And I think we need to apply this mindset more now than ever. When things seem overwhelming, just stop and break things down into bite size pieces.

Air Hugs!