Something that’s been on my mind quite a lot recently is the idea of thoughts vs reality. And this is because I often struggle with finding it hard to navigate my own thoughts and recognise what is the reality of a situation vs what the story in my head is.
If you’ve been listening to my podcast or following my journey for a while, you’ll know that I have suffered from both Depression and Anxiety in my past, and these probably both come down to having a very active mind.
Sometimes I can get caught up in my own thinking without realising that it has happened and find myself totally lost in my own head.
I’ve noticed that when I put a lot of attention into something, I get to a point where I’m unsure whether my thoughts are reflecting my reality or whether my reality is reflecting my thoughts.
And what I mean by this is, it can be quite hard to understand whether what I am seeing or thinking is the truth in the situation or whether I have just made it up to suit my own narrative – even in the times where I am trying to remain neutral
A recent example would be that when it came to taking the decision to spend a few months travelling, one part of me would be saying that “its something I’ve always wanted to do – to have a few months or even a year where I could move freely and at my own pace”, but then another part of my brain will pop up and say “look at the good work you’ve been doing over the past few years, you’re just going to throw it away”, and then another part might pipe up and disagree.
So then I end up not even being able to tell the difference between what the reality is, what my gut is telling me and what are just my thoughts. So things can feel a bit confusing.
But ultimately I’ve realised that all of my anxiety and all of my worries are just thoughts. And when I allow myself to get caught up in my own thinking, my reality can become cloudy.
Thinking is the one major functions of the body that we get ourselves involved in. Instead of letting our mind just process thoughts and feelings, we get involved in the process and end up confusing ourselves. Could you imagine if we did the same with our digestion process or even our breathing – we’d probably end up getting it all wrong.
This is why I often talk about trying to remain present and going with the flow – because when I am flowing with the waves of life I can feel and be my best. And ultimately I find that most situations work themselves out anyway!
So now, instead of engaging in my own thinking and getting confused about what the reality is, I just let a situation play itself out.
I feel like there’s so much pressure in this day and age to have a plan, to know where life is taking you and to figure everything out that it can actually be detrimental. We are spending too much time processing and trying to navigate our own thoughts that we don’t know how to enjoy each moment or let things happen at their own pace.
This is one of the major reasons why I’ve made the decision to spend a few months travelling – I love the sense of freedom and wonder I have when I travel and the openness I have to life. It’s something that I try to bring into my every day life, but it can be hard when you get sucked into the rat race.
And I am not saying it’s a bad thing to have goals and dreams – but I think there is a fine balance between working towards something and enjoying the path and all of the possibilities and opportunities along the way vs working so hard that you barely give yourself time to breathe.
For me life should be about enjoyment, it should be about being present and it should be about riding all of the waves as they happen.
I hope that stepping into the rest of this year, you can find these moments for yourself. At the end of the day, life is here to be lived.
Peace and love,
Alex