Simplification

This is how I have begun and will continue to separate myself from the world because I am not of this world.

These are my personal experiences that I adopted from books, articles, etc. along with my personal thoughts/experiences that have gotten me to this point in my life. The ideas I provide are how I have simplified my life successfully and some of them I encourage you to try. And I will be honest, some of them I wish every single person on human earth would do. It is so sad to see how technologically rotten we have become.

These are somewhat in a cohesive order. The number does not correlate to its importance. They have all been important in my journey of simplification. As you will soon understand, I typed these out in the order my brain thought of them.

1. Eating my meals without any stimulation

   Almost all of my meals (that I eat at my place/alone) are done sitting in silence. This used to sound depressing to me, but now it is second nature. Including most of the meals I prepare as well, I do all of this in silence. This allows my brain to breathe. To think. But most importantly during this time, to think about the food I am eating while also enjoying it. I used to eat my meals while watching something or listening to something, and I would scarf down my food. No wonder my stomach would hurt, and I felt dissatisfied with my meal (and probably why I wanted more food). Now, I get to eat my meals at a slower pace (most of the time) and interact with my thoughts.

2. Embracing boredom

   I don’t like being bored just like anybody else. But this is where are thoughts flourish. We need boredom to imagine and to process and to grow. I used to submerge my thoughts in music and podcasts and videos because I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts. I suppressed the needs of my soul.

3. Walking in peace

   I listen to music most of the time on my drives to and from work, but the first couple minutes I always dedicate to silence. This gives me time to be present as I drive or process some thoughts but to also dissociate the idea that everywhere I drive needs to be filled with noise. Especially with the instant opportunity to listen to any song possible I might want; I don’t need to be patient to wait for a song. This does not fully translate together, but I think you get what I mean. I say this in regard to walks especially because this (and driving) is the best time to think. I will have some walks with music or a podcast, but 99% of my walks are in silence. Now yes, this is partially due to the fact I have some health issues that prevent me from wearing headphones or earbuds, but I use that excuse to its full benefit. I shouldn’t be listening to anything on a walk anyways. Keep letting the mind breathe.

4. Never looking at my phone right when I wake up

   I wake up around 6 for work. I don’t look at my phone until around 7:30 when I am ready to leave my apartment. This is usually the same for the weekends too. All I have to say is peace. My mind doesn’t scramble in the morning (except for getting to work on time) because I have created an environment in the morning for my brain to relax. Yes, there are urges to check my phone sooner than I want and sometimes I have to for certain situations, but I have gotten to the point that I wish I could push out my first time glancing at my phone until later in the day.

5. Getting rid of social media (except Substack and Facebook Marketplace of course)

   I am a 25-year-old without social media, but this was not always the case. I had social media from around age 14 to around 24. I was in the trenches of it all. Name a platform. I probably had it. As an only child, video games and YouTube videos were like a companion or a sibling to me during that time frame. I can’t blame my parents for providing me with these things. I loved using them and playing these games, but I wish I didn’t have a single one in my life then or now. It brought no benefit to me. I even wonder if my emotional disengagement is due to the number of minutes, hours, and years that I spent engaging with technology rather than with people, myself, and the world.

   So that’s the backstory. Over the past few years, I have deleted my accounts and the apps, and this has brought so much peace and so much less guilt. There is a social media “FOMO” period, but once that dissipates, you never want to go back. YouTube was the hardest one to delete. I tried even only watching on a website browser, but it still perpetuated the addiction because it didn’t matter where I watched it. I had to cut it off. It took discipline, but discipline produces fruit.

6. Waiting in line

   I saw someone on Substack recently say they think it’s embarrassing seeing people on their phones while in public, and I can now say I fully agree. It just says that you don’t care to engage with the world or you don’t care enough to be with your thoughts. I honestly love seeing elderly people in public because they are willing to sit and wait without any stimulation. Though I am a hypocrite at times with this statement, I am always aware of using my phone while in a public setting. There once was a time when everyone had to wait in line without the stimulation of a phone. Whether that was striking up a conversation or observing the landscape or just being bored, this was normal at one point. Now waiting in line is an inconvenience rather than an opportunity.

7. Background noise

   I used to submerge my thoughts in music and podcasts and videos because I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts. I didn’t want to cycle through the same thoughts, worries, excitements, etc. I didn’t want to be alone with myself, but I was never going to grow and heal in this state. A YouTube video does not always need to be queued. A podcast does not always need to be in the background. We consume too much noise. Embrace humanity.

8. Doing tasks to completion

   I usually do multiple tasks at once or mix them together. Sometimes this is successful. Sometimes I need to be more disciplined and stick to one thing. I have noticed that when I begin multiple projects, I use the new project as a form of procrastination from the initial project. I am still working on this one, but committing to a singular task to completion has shown success and personal accomplishment as of recent.

9. Tinting my technology

   I have dark mode on every application possible. I have done that for years. My more recent change was tinting my phone, my personal computer, and my work computer to red. Some of this is due to a history of concussions. I also tinted it to red because when it gets dark out, a red/amber tint simulates a fire or candlelight. I try not to be on my phone when it gets dark anyways, but that cannot always be prevented. I am so used to the red tint on my phone that I usually get confused now when people ask me why my screen looks weird. I can say the same back to them now because normal screen tinting looks weird to me.

10. Breathing

    Breath by James Nestor. That’s it. That’s the statement.

    No, but seriously, I was already pursuing treatments for my sleep issues, and a dentist recommended this book to me since I deal with sleep apnea and airway issues. And wow. This book has changed how I breathe. And how I think. And how I think about how I breathe. I think about my breath all the time now (almost always in a good way). It can be used to control everything we do, especially our nervous systems. And I already have issues with mine, so this has been a game changer. I am currently trying to breathe strips for my nose and mouth tape while I sleep to help combat this in the meantime, but in general, everyone needs to take a couple minutes each day to just focus on the breath.

11. Reducing notifications

    I have a phone. I have an email account. I have responsibilities and relationships in my life that require the usage of these. But I have never had a million notifications. I used to think that would make me cooler or more popular, and when I did have more notifications, it was honestly more overwhelming. I am so glad I don’t have a bunch of text message chains going on. I am so glad I don’t have snap streak notifications to see and respond to.

    Side note, snap streaks are the stupidest thing ever. I don’t know how I ever liked them. It’s just sending photos of myself that I’m barely in or curating a photo of myself for someone else to do the same. How did this ever become normalized with our youth?

    I have friends with too many notifications. And they have a hard time keeping up with them. An opportunity to communicate with people with a phone is now a burden. And because of this, they never respond promptly. I have actually had a good conversation with a friend about the privilege of responses over text, but at the end of the day, I don’t message people anymore that chronically respond 3-7 days later (or they just never respond). I have my moments of delaying my response (I am a hypocrite, shocker), but I generally respond within the minute or within the day. I don’t have a lot of notifications which gives me the opportunity to respond promptly just like any face-to-face conversation.

I probably missed a few or some of these blend together, but I made my points. Each of these points could be their own article, but I thought this was the easiest way to introduce myself and my lifestyle in my first article.

Welcome to the Rehabilitation Project.