Its hard to think in the midst of things. Whether it’s a stressful situation at work, at home, or any other area it’s hard to process things in the moment. Hard to get some space and see things for how they really are. And because we live in a world that is constant motion 24/7 there comes a time in many men’s lives when they never get to process anything. It’s just constantly going, running around until they burn out.
This takes place in people of all levels of society. The high powered executive, the busy mechanic with a wife and kids to feed, even a college student thinking that grades are the end all be all of existence. We all get on the treadmill (or hamster wheel more accurately) and don’t get off until we’re put in the ground.
We accumulate problems, issues, and unresolved pains, often never knowing where they came from or how they got there in the first place. It’s start of like the first time realizing you got out of shape (happens a lot to former athletes). One day in your 20’s you wake up and realize you’re not who you used to be and that you have a problem with that.
Taking Time To Process
We end up with unprocessed thoughts and feelings that just sit in our hearts and minds sort of like food that never gets digested in our bellies and this isn’t good for long term health or development. We need time to digest, time to process, something that the modern world doesn’t give us much of any of. Sure some jobs you can have a week of vacation every year but processing is something that needs to happen almost every day.
Plus on vacation you’re unloading from not processing for so long the last thing you want to do is sit there and do something that at first glance might feel like work (and at first this is what processing feels like). No, you need something more than time in an overpriced hotel once a year to keep your sanity. You need to process and understand things on almost a daily basis.
But how does one go about this? How does one actually find time to process in our busy world? What needs to be done? No one has time to go deep into the woods every day (and if you do then consider yourself a rich man) nor can we always find time to be alone with our thoughts and process them. So what one has to do is make (not find) a short window of time that they can do nearly everyday (at least 5 times a week) to process.
How To Process
There are a number of things that one can do. If one has access to the woods and nature then take 10 minutes to go for a walk and maybe listen to soothing lyric free music while doing so. Could be classical, could be soundscape, could be meditation, just make it lyric free. Another option is to sit down and write out one’s thoughts. Maybe it seems weird to journal as a grown man but there are many benefits to it.
You can open up a word processor and just free write for 10 minutes then read over and delete it or you can go old school and keep a journal that you write in with a pen. Do whatever works for you. Combining them, for example going out in nature to journal, works especially well. And then of course there’s mediation which is think nearly every man should be doing (at least a form of).
Just find a quiet place and sit down and clear your mind for 10 minutes, works wonders. Helps you to keep your ahead above water and see where you’re going (important in life). Helps you process your life and where’s it headed, gives you a break from the noise (really cacophony) of this world, and works to restore your much needed sanity.
So take the time needed to have a quiet time every day, you’ll be better for it.
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-Charles Sledge
