I am an expert at self destructing. When feelings get too much or too messy I throw myself full pelt into life. James Dean’s famous “live fast die young” catchphrase is a motto I tend to live by. Yet at 26 the funny stories are tainted with a little bit of sadness and the consequences are that much bigger. Instead of logically facing problems I run headfirst into destruction mode, subsequently destroying something when I could have tried to save it.
This weekend, after yet another drunken night with yet more stupid descisions made, my friend told me plainly that I’d reached tipping point, it was time to step back and start making responsible descisions. The problem though is how do I do that, I have spent an entire summer at full speed ahead, how do I put the brakes on and slow the hell down?
I love a good list so here we have my action plan to stop self destructing…
1) Start looking after your body. My job has ridiculous hours and this summer I have worked all of them, which means sleep is a distant memory and my diet consists of the menu at my restaurant and whatever food I can pick up on my way to and from work. It goes without saying too little sleep and junk food at strange hours of the day and night are not going to help your emotional state. From now on I vow to get at least 6 hours sleep per night and eat 3 actual meals a day which will (shock) include fruit and vegetables!
2) Get a hobby outside of work (and not Netflix) My whole life currently consists of working, partying and crashing in front of Netflix. I need to get back to doing some of the things I love. Pick up a book, go to the cinema, go to a museum or the theatre.
3) Write more. I don’t know if it works for everyone but for me writing everything down really helps to clear my mind. Thoughts tend to swirl around my brain, I overthink everything, get confused and work myself up into a silly state, by writing things down it helps to put things into perspective and untangle the jumbled mess that is my brain.
4) Get a project. From January through to July a large part of my time was taken up with preparations for Kilimanjaro and I think having that focus kept me a little sane. Don’t get me wrong I don’t intend to take on quite such a big challenge, but having something to focus on and work towards should keep the boredom at bay and give me something to distract myself with other than alcohol!
5) Drink less. An obvious one but nonetheless important. Alcohol is not the answer and in my case almost always leads to bad decisions. Luckily (although not really) my bank account is currently so poor it’s crying, so I cannot actually afford to drink for a while (yey)!
6) Laugh a lot. I fully believe that laughter is the best medicine and as long as you keep laughing and keep seeing the funny side of life you can’t go far wrong.
Scattered Thoughts 