Acknowledge and Appreciate Your Inner Self
“Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional “
– Carroll Bryant
Nurture, the word itself resonates with the act of taking care of something and nourishing that is still maturing. As humans, the process of growth is incessant and natural but to evolve is a matter of choice. This brings us to the fact that we need to keep on nurturing ourselves with time to keep up with the pace of physical advancement.
In the quest to grow as an adult, we tend to ignore and forget to be in touch with ourselves and our real surroundings and wrongly focus on the outer world while trying to match up to its pace.
Until and unless we learn to listen to our inner self, understand it, and accept it, we as individuals will keep on growing like a wild shrub without any direction and narrows down our scope to transform into better beings and live a quality life.
The roadblock
“Some people try too hard for social media but not hard enough in real life “
– Anonymous
The advent of digital technology has transformed the urban lifestyle and has majorly impacted society as a whole. On one hand, we are connected to the whole world but disconnected from our lives.
As per the study, approximately 61% of people admitted that they are addicted to the internet and continuously glued to their phone/laptop screens via social media platforms namely Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, Netflix, etc.
The influence of the virtual world on our real lives has deepened to such an extent that in 2012, a new word Phub derived from phone and snub was coined to sensitize the present generation of the habit of ignoring not only themselves but their families, friends, spouses in favour of mobile and this behaviour, as a result, is not only affecting their relationships but mental and physical wellbeing too
Sadly, there is a whole new generation of silent conversationalists, where people are not used to communicating and expressing themselves verbally but uses texts and messages for the same.
Many national and international surveys have concluded that individuals be it adults or teenagers feel anxious and restless if separated from their phones. The number of cases of depression is on rising owing to loneliness, people seeking validation and value their sense of worth from the likes on their posts or how they are perceived by others in the virtual world, and a constant feeling of discontentment while comparing themselves with what others are portraying on their social media accounts.
Amid all this chaos and fast-paced technologically driven environment the scope of spending time with oneself while introspecting and dealing with the issues that are detrimental to live a quality life is narrowing down.
The roadmap
“Put Down Your Phone & Pick Up Your Life”
-Anonymous
The first step to deal with the problem is to be aware of it. As now we know the major side effects of excessive use of social media and its negative impact on our lives, let us discuss the steps needed to curtail the use of smartphones and time spent on the internet and learn to be in touch with our inner self and our dear ones and create a better life.
Digital detox, the mere act of refraining from spending more time on the internet while browsing, online shopping, social media posts, online gaming, etc., and putting more effort into focusing on real life, real self, and real people without any distraction.
There are many ways to curtail the unnecessary use of the smartphone, some of them are as follow
- For starters, set a limit or time to access your social media accounts for an hour or two during a day, and to curb the urge, try to engage yourself in another recreational activity and spend quality time with yourself, like reading a book, going for a walk, write a journal to yourself, enrol for a hobby class, have a real conversation with your friends, spouses, family.
- According to one interesting research, the use of digital media devices before your bedtime causes a lack of sound sleep, lethargy, and a sense of sleepiness throughout the day.
Make sure that you leave your smartphone aside one hour before you go to sleep for a night of sound sleep and don’t use your smartphone for one hour after you wake up. Use this time to meditate, exercise, do yoga, and make a planner for important things to do during the day.
- No use of smartphones while eating your meals especially when in the company of others.
- Turn off push notifications on your phone to avoid distraction via alerts.
Albert Einstein once said
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”
Let us break this pattern and develop a productive one for a better future.
Written By Rahul Chadha
Rahul Chadha, an entrepreneur by profession with 16 years of rich entrepreneurial experience.
Post corona wrapped up his venture and at present is settled in Goa and volunteering with an NGO while learning different skills set, be it woodworking, online content creation, cooking, music and picking up various freelance content writing projects. He is as passionate about writing as he is about adventure travel.
Instagram @ freeefallin
Week 41 October 2021
