Simple, small changes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to improve my mental health, fitness, productivity, focus, and human connections. Doomscrolling, especially on my phone, has been a major problem. I’d catch myself mindlessly scrolling through mentally unhealthy content at the start and end of the day, or whenever I had a spare moment. The world is already enough of a dumpster fire; I don’t need to watch it burn in real time.

So I came up with a plan…

I removed all but one social media app from my phone (the only one left is for posting photos to Pixelfed). I kept email since it’s never been much of a problem. I don’t get many messages during the day anyway. Most of the apps I actually use are audio-based: podcasts, audiobooks, music, and my devotional app. I tend to do better listening than reading.

I’ve also returned to journaling, which I used to do regularly but had fallen out of. I’ve committed to 15 minutes a day, keeping it simple with three prompts:

• What am I thankful for today?
• What is irking me today?
• What’s something impactful or challenging I’ve read or heard today?

I’m also limiting TV during the week to one show a night (about an hour). The goal is to make more space for reading again. It’s another discipline I used to be prolific at but let slip over time, and one I’d like to rebuild as a habit.

And though I’m hitting my goal of walking 5 km a day, thanks to our energetic puppy, I want to keep that going. The sunlight helps too, and as the weather warms up, I’m looking forward to more hikes in the mountains. All of that is good for my soul.

Simple, small changes, but hopefully ones that make a difference.