A few years ago, I took on a series of holistic wellness challenges. It provided a way for me to explore how various wellness practices benefited my health for 30 days at a time. These self-generated month-long challenges included:
drinking celery juice upon waking
doing at least 30 minutes of yoga
journaling for at least 10 minutes
morning oil pulling
consuming bone broth
reading a book for at least 10 minutes
phone-free mornings
This challenge experiment lasted well over a year and while each challenge was a fun learning experience, one that stands out is the phone-free morning challenge. For a month I kept my phone off the first 60 minutes of the day. Yep, it was challenging. And freeing.
During that time, I learned that when I kept my phone off in the mornings, I was more connected with myself, my thoughts and ideas. I felt better, grounded, and more peaceful.
I've since slid back to turning my phone on upon waking, which is a common, widespread habit (or some would say, addiction).
The problem is, that habit interferes with our ability to connect with ourselves, our thoughts, and our feelings. Instead, we are immediately inundated with, and distracted and influenced by all the noise of the outside world. We are in effect, consuming before we create.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept, “create before you consume” because one thing’s for sure, we live in a culture of consuming.
Do you wake up and immediately check your email or social media? Binge Netflix or podcasts? Ever gone down a rabbit hole of watching YouTube videos or Amazon shopping and lost track of time?
Do you consume to distract, numb, or procrastinate?
Our society encourages consumption on every level, and it has an effect on our overall health.
Consuming isn’t empirically good or bad.
However, one of the issues with consumption overload is that it can lead to a life of distraction, escapism, and diverts you from your goals. Plus, constant consumption discourages you from tapping into your own ideas and creativity.
We are meant to create. Creating allows us to express ourselves, inspires motivation, improves mental health, and builds confidence.
So on that note, I invite you to join me for podcast episode 91 where I explore this concept, Create Before You Consume and discuss what it means and why it’s important to be aware of both what and how you are consuming and the impact on your thoughts, feelings, actions and wellbeing.
If podcasts aren't your thing, here are a few questions for you to consider:
What are you consuming?
What are you creating?
Are you mindful of what and how much you’re consuming?
Does it outweigh what you’re creating?
Love, Your Wellness Coach,
Alyssa
P.S. Here's the link to the podcast again. We have fun over there! I hope you join in.
September 21, 2022
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