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Published at 2024-11-10T19:45:56-07:00
We have all been there. We come home from a long day, kick off our shoes, collapse on the couch and just want to relax. Turning on NetPrime Max, selecting our favorite show and before we know it, it is time for bed and you feel no better than when you first walked through the door. How can something as simple as relaxing be so hard?
This is a frequent trap we all fall in. Our form of relaxing is shutting off our brain and zoning out while watching TV, scrolling social media, playing video games, reading books, or really anything. The problem is, even if the action is something that relaxes us, zoning out isn't relaxing. The time passes but nothing changes. The stress isn't gone, just moved. Sure, while we were zoned out, we weren't stressing, but that is were the trap comes in. Doing these actions, in this way, doesn't fix the issue, but temporarily removes us from the stressful situation. This isn't all bad. Sometimes we just need to zone out for a second and it feel good to just go numb, but it is very different from relaxing.
To better illustrate this point, I'm going to define this difference between zoning out and relaxing as active and passive relaxing. Zoning out is passively relaxing. We turn off our brains and go with the flow, whatever is easiest. Active is, in my mind, the true form of relaxing. The important thing is, the action is irrelevant. You can actively or passively relax while watching TV. It is all a mindset. Sitting down and saying "I am going to relax and enjoy this moment" is being active. Mindlessly switching on the TV and staring at it for a few hours is passive. You could even define this difference as being mindful. When our mind is actively in the world around us, then our body can start to truly unwind and relax. We can sense our current bodies condition and identify if we are sore, or caring our stress in our shoulders, and this will allow us to release that stress.
One of the best ways to make passive relaxing active, is through focusing on our breathing. Even just being aware of our breathe can be game changing. I like to imagine myself breathing out my stress and then breathing in fresh air. The really cool part is you can do this anywhere. Need to relax in the middle of a tough day at work? Take 30 seconds to breath and relax.
Eh.. kind of? It is probaly inspired by meditation and mindfulness. To me, active relaxing is just being in the moment. If you love reading, then read! If you like to watch TV to relax, then watch TV! If you are in the moment while you are doing whatever you do to relax, it will be much more relaxing and you will feel like you actually recharged. In my mind, meditation is an action that naturely follows the principle of active relaxing.
All in all, this change in mindset has helped me a lot so I wanted to share it with other people. Getting away from the big internet itself was a huge help and being on the smolnet (smolweb?) is inherently more mindful and relaxing. I would like to reiterate there is nothing wrong with just zoning out. Sometimes that is exactly what you need. But if you want to really relax and recharge, make sure to do it actively. Hopefully someone out there finds this interesting!