Transcription for: "Downtime.mp4" (Uploaded File) (New Transcription)
Speaker 0: Hello there friend. I'm so happy to be coming to you today from a relaxed, unhurried, well rested, and creative place. Why am I so chipper? Well, my friend, I just got off of a week of vacation. And while I was basking by the lake doing Absolutely nothing.
It occurred to me that this is such a great idea, downtime, Yeah. Let's talk about the many many ways. A little downtime can really benefit your mental health. And I will, of course, give you some ideas about how to get moving in a less productive direction. Hang with me.
Thanks for listening to Takeout Therapy. A podcast for people who are trying to be their best selves, but maybe need a little more information about it all. I'm Rebecca Hunter, a therapist and anxiety specialist, doling out the information, latest research, and of course, a little advice here and there. If you've got less than twenty minutes and a good sense of humor, you will find this discussion helpful. This isn't therapy.
It's self help at its finest. Let's get to work. Okay, my friends. I don't know if you've noticed this about me, but I'm one busy lady. I have my little private practice, which I really, really enjoy.
I see and help a lot of people every week, trying to change their lives. I see people every week in my office. Then I have my little online business too, which is fun, but it's also a business. So there's work to The podcast, social media, and my course community all take my time and attention, and I love all these things. And I also like to do other fun things.
Like walk or hikes, spend time with my friends and family, meal plan, grocery shopping, keep my house livable. With with the number of male teens at this point running around at my house, that can be challenging at times, but I digress. Over the years, I've put a lot of pressure on myself about how things need to look in my life, in my home, and in my business. But lately, I've been really understanding the value of the chill, like just chill, sit on my porch with cup of iced tea and watch the birds go by or just hang out with Lily or read a book or do a puzzle. Does any he do those sudoku puzzles, I'm obsessed with those things or literally do nothing.
I'm getting actually quite good at it. Yes. I have gotten good at doing nothing. And my goal for you is the same. Aren't you excited about this?
Well, some people might feel that this is way less productive than they wanna be. I'm gonna challenge you today because anxiety and depression burnout and overwhelm are all too common and might be able to be helped with a gentler approach. What about doing nothing? What happens to you when I say this? Like, I'm suggesting that we actually embrace the idea of doing nothing productive with the intention of improving our mental health.
But we don't do nothing. Do we? We're quite a productive bunch, aren't we? Yes. But is this really serving us in our lives, in our relationship?
With our health and our mental health. Listen, productivity is not a measure of your worth. I'm happy to repeat that for you. Productivity is not a measure of our worth. I think we have to get away from the idea that doing stuff all the time makes us worthy.
Right? What do I mean by this? Well, as my friend Tara Brock says, We have become human doings, not human beings. What's that about? Why do we always have to be doing things?
In order to feel okay. I think in many cultures, what you do for a living, what you do in your spare time, what you do with your family, It's all a bit of a scoring system. Am I right? Is it like that for you? What if we just hop off that silly scoring system and commit to learning to have downtime.
How would that be? Why would we do such a thing? Let me count the ways for you, my friend. Doing stuff all the time is very activating for our bodies and our mind, which is great. It keeps us moving.
It keeps us active, healthy, assessing our world, learning new stuff, meeting new people, blah blah blah. Right? Yes, great. It can also be incredibly over taxing on our bodies and our nervous system, on our minds and on our relationships, frankly. A little bit of downtime here and there can really help us to repair our nervous system from all that activity, from all that doing.
It can really help our brain to rest and replenish, which allows us to access our own creativity in order to have better insight about what's happening in our lives. When we're doing things all the time, there isn't a lot of room for that. There isn't a lot of ability to have perspective on what's actually happening. You know, it's like when you're dropping kids off and picking them up and run to the grocery store and dealing with your own business tasks and goals. It's really hard to see where you're at with things when you're always moving around like this.
But when we take breaks, intentional breaks, It's like a little reset. And I don't mean moments where there's nothing going on. I mean intentional breaks. And if you get good at it, it can be a total game changer. So I'm not suggesting at all that you become a slacker all of a sudden.
I I know that's gonna happen, my friend. Let's be real here. You've got shit to do, and so do I. We are not gonna be joining the Slacker Club. Okay?
What I'm suggesting is that daily, you take some time out from all the things that capture your attention and just stop for a while, for half an hour. Or an hour or sometimes an entire day. What? The goal is to just stop. To live your life and not check things off the to do list all the time.
Now, I should warn you that doing nothing is not easy. It takes practice, my friend. It's something that we're not used to. We haven't learned to do nothing. And we have a lot of things that we say to ourselves when we're doing nothing.
Just pay attention to how you talk to yourself around idea of productivity versus resting, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. So get used to the idea that doing nothing is a practice that will impact your life in a positive way, and it's gonna take some time to get used to. It's so silly to say this, but like doing nothing is a practice. It takes time to learn to do it. So set aside a little block of time each day, when you're just gonna stop, what you're doing, and just chill, just relax, rest, have downtime.
Lay on your couch, grab a book and head to the porch. No phone. Being on your phone is not doing nothing. It's actually numbing. Stay tuned next week and I'll help you with that.
So no phone. Go outside maybe. Sit, observe, breathe. Just don't get anything done, my friend, and see what pops up you. Anxiety?
Maybe? Board them probably. Okay. You're going to need practice then. That's all.
It doesn't mean anything about you that you have trouble sitting still and doing Jack. Okay? It means you're a human doing and perhaps a bit downtime will do you some good. If you practice downtime and you get good at it, it will absolutely have a positive impact on your life. You'll stop productivity shaming yourself for one thing.
And you're gonna notice where that happens when you're trying to practice downtime. Listen, there's a time for being productive, and there's a time for resting, and you need to know the difference. We all need to understand the difference. Because frankly, it's gotten a little bit fuzzy. Don't you think?
This is just something to work I could do a whole episode of the dangers of productivity. Don't get me started. Ben, they're done that. When you get good at doing nothing, you get good at resting your brain. All the to dos will be there when you get to them.
I promise. And when you give your brain a break from thinking about all that stuff, clarity comes. There's room for calm. That's the best way I can describe it. When we learn to take breaks, to stop thinking, stop planning, stop being productive, we understand ourselves in our own lives, sometimes on a deeper level.
When we just make a little room for that, you know, you have to make space for the stillness required to understand oneself in one's life, my friend. So if there is some stuff in your life that's hard right now. And all you do is think about it all the time. Perhaps some rest and not thinking about it all of the time. Will be super helpful.
Do you know what I mean by that? Options appear to us that we're never part of the equation. You give yourself some space. I guess that's what I'm trying to get through to you. Like, you will understand things better when you make a little bit of room there.
All that stuff, you keep telling yourself you need to get done to be successful. Okay. Fine. And also, there might be a different way to get it all done than you doing it all the time. There might be a different version of product of that would meet your needs a lot better than the grind you're currently on, my friend.
You know what I mean? I'm simply recommending some downtime. Oh, no. It's crazy. A different story about what that means.
In your own head is gonna be really important. An intention to create space. That's what downtime can be. Intentional, rest, intentional self love, just saying. I hope this helps.
My vacation, I'll just tell you right now, was awesome. Did I read one book or come up with my next great plan? No. I just sat on my chair or I we went on a boat, that was fun too. And I just watched nature.
I saw hawk fishing in the lake. I watched the sun go down every day, Watch the waves wrap up on the shore of the lake, and I spent quiet moments with the ones I love. And I did not get shit done. So good for me and good for you for being willing to make some space too. Feel your life.
Be in it. Not as the task master, but as an observer sometimes too. This will help you get your feet under you. Downtime is a great way to create space to relax, rest the mind and body, and access your creativity, openness, and to see what really matters. And it ain't the laundry.
Not today, my friend. Go find nothing to do. I think you're gonna like it. Next week, I'm gonna talk about Namming. Why we do it?
Why it works so great? And why we should reassess its usefulness in our lives. Because really, it's all about making the changes we need to make to have a more connected life. I'll be here with you doing the work. Thanks for listening.
Are you a business owner who struggles to stay emotionally balanced? I feel you, my friend. Lots of people I work with are trying to create the life of their dreams, but get lost in the shuffle of it all. Stress overwhelm and anxiety can run our lives and ruin our plans. If you'd like to level up your emotional life and get some track to reach your goals back to calm.
My online anxiety recovery program might be a perfect fit for you. This fully online course will guide you gently through the process of getting back to a better place in your life without the stress overwhelm and anxiety with some science, real world usable solutions from the therapy office, and lots of humor, I can help you get into a better relationship with yourself, be able to show up in your life, and do what you want to do. Whether that's go to target, or start your million dollar empire, my friend. Anxiety stops us from living and I can help. Find out if back to calm feels right for you, at rebekah hunter m s w dot com.
Of course, there's a link in the show notes. Okay. I hope you found today's episode helpful. Here's the deal. I'd like to get rid of some of this stigma around mental health, and this is how I'm doing it.
You can join me by leaving a review, sending an episode along to a struggling friend or even subs scribing. Any of those choices would be so exciting, my friend, because then you and I, we would be helping more people. Let's do that. If you wanna work with me. Visit me at rebekah hunter m s w dot com, and you can see all the fun things I'm up to.
Don't forget, I'm an anxiety specialist. So if that's your jam. It's my jam too. Way to show up today.
