Self Regulation & New Beginnings, yay.

Hello again,

My life has not been very exciting lately, which has been incredibly nice. I've been trying to take more time to get back to feeling like myself, after a period of time where I felt I was playing a character more than living as an individual. Within the past six months I have started a job that it is actually very supportive in work and the environment. I have moved into a house with my partner, my two cats and his one cat.

In the time that I have lived here I have tried to practice taking more time for myself, allowing time to relax and breathe without feeling a sense of urgency. I don't feel the need to be constantly busy, I have felt content and excited to continue this practice.

My diet has been a big help in all of this. I haven't had a consistent eating pattern in years, and now that I do I have an entirely new world of energy that I have never experienced in my young adult body. I started to lessen my caffeine intake. I don't drink any caffeine until at least an hour and a half after I wake up. This is supposed to help my natural endorphins to release after my body gets out of that lingering sleep state. When you drink caffeine as soon as you wake up, you are stunting the release of endorphins that are released as your body wakes up. When you wait to drink caffeine until after these endorphins release, the caffeine is able to support your natural bodily functions without sending you into a caffeine crash. Caffeine has benefits that communities have used for years in moderation. Although this is till true, and I am actively trying to take advantage of these effects; my lack of caffeine has shown infinite benefits in how I conduct my daily life.

I have started to value and make the most out of my alone time. Lack of another person's presence is not a bad thing, but it is something that I had not been experiencing for a long time. Junior to senior year of high school I always had a friend or significant other to be around, and that lasted into my freshman year of college and the months after that. This year is probably the first in many that I have not been constantly surrounded with people, and it has taken some time to get used to. As a human I do not need to be constantly stimulated, that is just something that is not good for my brain, I've found. Being bored is fun, I can just find a hobby or task to entertain myself without doom scrolling.

My personal solution to doom scrolling is to turn on a favorite show, currently on the rotation is Gilmore Girls. I will turn it on and go on pinterest to healthily doom scroll. The only difference is that I am actively trying to make a plan to better myself with the pins I find. This has actually helped a lot, each click onto a picture is intentional. If the picture and idea from it resonate with me and how I am trying to plan, then I will add it to the board it matches. This allows me to be present in the "decision making" of my future, when all I am doing is finding images of activities, fashion, cooking, or decor that interest me. As simple as it is, this has been helping me to relinquish the hold I had on my life to let it flow freely, making decisions as they're necessary; not micromanaging anything I can.

Finding time to do nothing can be easy depending on your workload and social life. It's allowing yourself to embrace that downtime that can be the tricky part. My coping mechanisms are in no way final law, or anything of substance. But sharing my own way of embracing growth and current goals is an important way for me to document that growth. Over time I will find more sustainable ways that come to me naturally when it comes to handling my boredom and finding myself.

All of our timelines are different, and our hearts are on different clocks. With time they intersect and move forward. Allowing that movement to flow forward will only allow the growth you are participating in to flourish, with the right intention.

Have a lovely day,

<3 Rys