Stop, Breathe, Rejuvenate, Reflect.
“Stop and smell the roses”, is a phrase most of us are familiar with, but only a handful of us actually stop and smell the roses. We all are rambling in quest of something, striving to accomplish whatever we could in this period of existence. We have set endless goals and have entangled ourselves in perpetual to-do lists. Amidst this journey for fleeting satisfaction, we have forgotten how to halt and cherish what we have already accomplished, whether big or small. Once in a while, we should reflect on where we are and what we truly yearn in life.
Since, the start of my college years, I’ve come across a plethora of opportunities and have strived to seize them all to become a versatile person. Thus, multiple times, I’ve found myself to be trapped in the perpetual cycle of objectives. My goal was to complete multiple tasks in a day or a week to be able to succeed in life. From early morning to late at night, I was occupied in getting my goals accomplished, without knowing what I actually wanted to achieve by the end of the day. Whenever I wasn’t able to complete a goal on time or had a tough time completing it, I felt anxious and made everyone around me the same.
My motto has always been “work smarter not harder”, but somewhere in the run to complete tasks and being a perfectionist, I forgot to take a pause and smell the roses along the way. I began to feel like I was losing my grip on sanity and felt like I was getting lost in the crowd; my goals seemed absurd and my motivation ceased. Then I consulted my dad about how to get back on the path, a path less explored. All he asked me to do was to hit that pause button, rejuvenate, and reflect.
After inculcating this advice in my life, I’ve been able to re-align my future goals with an uncluttered mind and renewed determination. At times, we need a break but we are completely unaware of it. For me, the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise, as it has given me loads of time to sit back and relax. I’ve been endeavoring to live a meditative life, to strengthen my spiritual connection to the eternal, and to have a tranquil mind in any situation. I am becoming aware of the fact that hard work/overwork isn’t always fruitful, rather it’s the reason why we lose out on our creative skills and abilities.
A pause helps you self-introspect. By asking questions to ourselves we get a better insight into our emotions, strengths, and weaknesses — we become more self-aware.
On social media platforms, many lures engage us — mentally, physically, emotionally — and make us feel less productive than others. We constantly overlook our accomplishments and push ourselves to do multiple, non-targeted, things that might give us momentary satisfaction.
We often chuck our mind, body, spirit in the internet mayhem and clutter them with all sorts of extraneous information. We are ready to sacrifice our priceless commodities like health, time, energy, family on top of the materialistic things.
This pandemic has shown me how I was engaged in unnecessary quandaries in life & how I could cut-short a lot of it in order to get plenty of time to relax & rejuvenate my mind, body, & soul.
There are a plethora of ways to pause, physically, mentally, and spiritually. A pause could be as simple as going out for a walk in nature or indulging in a hobby we relish such as painting, exercising, stargazing, gardening, playing guitar, hiking, etc. A mindful pause can also be achieved by doing mediation for 10 -15 minutes, 2–3 times a day, or performing techniques such as reflexology, massage, aromatherapy, or yoga. The end goal of each pause is to go into a deeply relaxed state of mind, in which no thoughts are wandering around and all the internal aberrations calm down. The silence within becomes stronger, which enables us to think clearly and help us reflect better.
We are living in an era of endless opportunities, which is why knowing when to draw a line becomes crucial. Life isn’t all about being productive all the time, it’s about appreciating the journey and learning along the way whilst taking mindful pauses. Pauses help us regain our joie de vivre, realign our thoughts, revive our motivation, and advance in life.
Next time, don’t forget to hit that pause button, rejuvenate, and reflect.
