In a world where we’re bombarded with noise all day every day, it can be challenging to find the time and space to think.
We’re conditioned to buy into all the chaos around us, news, marketing, opinions, social media, all this stuff is relentless and it’s all vying for attention in your brain.
When you end up in a place where it feels like life is happening to you, not for you it’s really easy to get in a negative headspace and get caught up and consumed in all the negativity.
That whirlwind of fatalistic emotions can leave you feeling stuck, trapped, lost and out of control.
All of this chaos, emotion and stress affects your health whether you’re aware of it or not. Your heart rate increases, you can’t quiet your mind, it’s harder to focus and often this impacts your sleep, keeping you up at night.
Lack of sleep lowers cognitive function, reduces performance, your ability to think and focus clearly and of course lowers your physical energy too.
The list is never ending, but I wanna touch on a few of the big noisy distractions that are most common:
Chaos in the World
The news is designed to grab your attention with outrageous headlines trying to hook your attention, notice how they’re very seldom positive, because bad news sells!
There’s a tonne of awesomeness happening in the world every day too though!
Heartwarming stories, scientific breakthroughs and epic people doing more epic things, which may get a quick minute right at the end of the news if they get mentioned at all, ever notice that?
Obviously we can’t deny that extreme and unprecedented events that have happened during the last 2 years covid, lockdowns, the increased cost of living and there’s always house prices.
Now of course there’s the war in Ukraine, global uncertainty and the huge hike in petrol prices. The amount of loss and suffering all over the world seems to increase by the day and it’s all beamed directly to you 24/7
Then there’s social media with the endless posts of people spouting unqualified opinions, conspiracy theorists, and endless absolute bullshit, which quite frankly, just gets overwhelming.
You can have an amazing day then 30 minutes on social or watching the news brings you crashing back down and reaching for your go to numbing agent.
Personally I hardly ever watch the news these days. Not because I don’t care what happens in the world, of course I do, but I believe that I can do good by focusing on the people, causes and projects that are important to me, which in turn ripples outwards as the people I help create their own ripples of impact.
The best way I can do that is to filter out the noise which is why during lockdown last year, personally I didn’t bother to watch any of the stuff people sent to me or tagged me in, because I’d rather spend my time focusing on the positive, on what I can affect and staying clear headed.
Negative Energy
Just like getting sucked into online negativity, it happens all around us every day too.
It may be people at work, even if you’re working remotely, which is chaotic in itself for so many. It may be a family drama that distracts you when you’re least expecting it.
When things don’t go as planned, don’t get communicated clearly, when people are bringing an aura of anger, frustration and ego to your interactions, that can have a crazy impact on your own energy and leave you in a state of chaos and unease.
I am incredibly protective about how and where I spend my time these days. Maintaining my energy, my good vibes, whatever you want to call it, is so essential to me that I only spend time with people who compliment that.
I’m so tuned in to what matters to me staying upbeat so I can get shit done is a non negotiable.
Trying to please everyone else
Being the awesome person that you are, I know that caring for others is a big part of your life, and that’s freaking brilliant!
But to be in the best place, to be present, hold space for the people you care about and create impact in the world, you need to be your most awesome self.
You can’t keep giving energy if you don’t have any to start with!
You can never please everyone, and that’s okay, but living with purpose and being clear on your direction means you can create more impact with those that you’re meant to help.
When you can clearly define who you are, who you ultimately wish to be, who you’re put on this planet to help and how you will do that and take consistent actions every single day, you can cut through chaos like butter.
How?
Let go of all the noise, distractions and chaos by taking control of you.
I promise you some cool shit will happen when you take back control
- More physical and mental energy.
To thrive in life you have to be physically mentally healthy. Healthy people tend to be happier, have better relationships, more self confidence, and the energy to get out and enjoy life.
- Improve your connections with everyone around you.
Having good relationships with the people in your world is important. With your partner, your kids, grandkids, friends, family and colleagues.
Humans are meant to be connected – yes even introverts.
People don’t need a lot of your time, they need you to be present, be where your feet are when you’re with them with no distractions.
Spending quality time with quality people is energising for the soul when you get it right for you. Like most things in life, quality over quantity goes a long way.
Let me ask you this: Do you know what your purpose is? Do you know what is most important to you? AND do you work towards it in some way every single day?
If you answered no to any of those questions, we need to talk, my friend.
Let me help you cut through your noise and get some clarity on what lights up YOUR world so you can sleep at night.
And if you’re not ready to talk just yet but you know you need to do something, then click here and access a tool I frequently use with my clients.