In a slump? Here’s what I did to get out of mine

Last week, I hit one of my lowest lows I’ve hit in a while. It hit a few days before the full moon and lasted until about today (5-days). Related to the full moon? Quite possible, learning more about the moon cycles and their effect on us is certainly something I want to learn more about. But this one got me hard. Last month was full of me experimenting with life and lots of negative things happened that as each one came, I attempted to see the good in, but as they piled up, it became more and more difficult to keep my good spirits up about it all. Today— the skies finally began to part and I’m back on my A-game. Or getting there at least! Here’s some tactics I used as all of this was unfolding.

Asking: How is this for me?

I believe all things happen for a reason, and often times to open my attention or awareness to something. So in the instance that my brand new phone got stolen, I thought ‘Okay, how can this actually be a blessing? What is this here to show me?’ And my immediate thought was, ‘Well maybe I can actually start to use the nicer camera that I have.’ It’s a mirrorless point and shoot that I’ve had for years now, dabbled with a tad, intended to youtube with, but never fully learned to use it to it’s full potential. So many opportunities to be creative with it and the quality is actually far greater than that of the new iPhone. The iPhone had its perks when it came to accessibility and stabilization, but other than that, my camera far outperforms it especially if it’s full functionality is understood. So started taking that baby out and it’s been really cool.

Asking how this is for me, helps me feel more empowered in a situation where I might otherwise feel powerless and like a victim. The truth here is, that I have no control over how the situation went down, sure in hindsight are there things I could have done to prevent it— probably, but it happened how it happened and the only thing I can control is how I respond to it and move forward. Moping isn’t going to bring my phone back, so I decided to see what good there is to come from this. And that helped me actually shift focus to some of the goals I’d had. Learn to use my camera, edit the videos I’d filmed, share some content. So here we are!

Listen to instrumental music

I say instrumental here because I realized music with lyrics can be hyper charged with emotion. Sometimes it’s been good for me to recognize my emotions through music, but to get myself out of a slump, listening to music that reflects my current state actually makes me spiral more. When It’s instrumental, I find my mind can be void of thought much easier. I’ve also found that thought is often what provokes the downward spiral even further. The absence of thought helps me reach a point of neutrality. A few of my favorites on Spotify are ‘Deep Sleep’ and ‘Focus Flow.’ Once I’m at a more positive state, I can shift to something with more positive messaging, but still instrumental is my choice for many reasons.

Notice the beauty around & seek nature

The logical side of me realizes I’m traveling, there are volcanoes around me for goodness sake, why am I so sad. So I was walking through the streets and the path converged into this square with trees and fountains and kids running around playing and I looked up at the purple blooms on one of the trees and was like dang that’s beautiful. And started taking in the sights and sounds that were right in front of me and it was as if in an instant I started feeling lighter. It’s interesting here to note that walking in a maze of buildings, even though there is beauty off in the distance and even though the buildings are beautiful, keeps my brain in a locked in mode. It was when I was up close and personal with nature that the feelings started to dissipate. So I’ve made a point everyday since to go to a place with trees, and just sit with the stillness, notice the natural beauty, breathe it in, be with it. That has made such a difference.

Take time to rest

For the first time in my life, I think I’m realizing what it is to rest. Usually I take my laptop with me or a journal or something to keep me occupied, but this time I just took myself on a walk, I took myself to the park, I read a book because I wanted to, I sat in a cafe and fed myself nice food. And I took a nap. Yes, a nap. And that for me is unheard of. But it was exactly what I needed. After a day of super long napping and another day of a shorter nap along with other practices mentioned above, I woke up just happier. So rest is good, especially when your a productive-a-holic.

Take yourself out and let your inner child play

This is a fun one, and one I’ll likely take into my everyday life. But legit, I just went wherever my curiosity took me, wandering the streets. I even skipped down the middle of the cobblestone road and smiled and said ‘Hola’ to everyone I passed by just as kids do and you know what— people smiled and said ‘Hola’ back and that made me actually smile. Being a kid is so fun.

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So yeah, those are the things that helped me this round. There’s definitely more mindset wise that clicked and shifted, but these are the actionable that definitely helped me shift to a more positive state. I’m adding these to my toolkit and plan to add them to daily life too as a sort of ‘preventative medicine’ of sorts. Looking forward to seeing where this new positive streak will take me! Hope you can find something useful in this for yourself too!

Love ya! Stay true & be you!