[HN Gopher] The Magic of Rituals
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The Magic of Rituals
Author : rbanffy
Score : 21 points
Date : 2022-09-16 12:59 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (nautil.us)
(TXT) w3m dump (nautil.us)
| ROTMetro wrote:
| When I worked in the Bay Area and had a long commute, before
| going into the house I would leave all my worries with the 'worry
| tree' outside. I took a moment to decompress, and to make sure I
| had energy and excitement prepared so that when my kids come
| running shouting daddy's home, I was able to give to them the
| attention they craved and needed.
|
| When my mom was dying of cancer alone and I was in prison and
| unable to help, even though I don't believe in magic/whatever, I
| told myself certain musicians playing on my MP3
| (https://youtu.be/vhRk12bsggg) was the universe telling me
| things. Tom Petty was that is going to go a good day, Fleetwood
| Mac that my mom was doing to somehow be OK (thank you Tiktok for
| bringing Fleetwood Mac back to the radio right when I needed it),
| etc. Just having these outside triggers that could reset my
| worry/anxiety was huge and got me through the day. I took away
| from that that I need to build habits to break negative feedback
| loops I can easily get stuck in.
|
| I also check in with myself now. Not cleaning up the kitchen
| after meals, not keeping my car clean, not having the energy for
| something simple like brushing my teeth (I know gross) are all
| actions I take when I am in a bad place. But with awareness, they
| are now signals to myself that help me know when to reach
| out/take action/etc.
| uptownfunk wrote:
| I have my daily rituals every morning, consumes almost 3 hours of
| my day but everything has a purpose - or so I'd like to think.
| The only way I've found to manage the anxiety from being a
| working parent with two little ones at home and a stressful tech
| job.
| danielvaughn wrote:
| Back in 2018 I moved from NYC, where my commute was 45m-1hr, to
| Florida, where I lived across the street from a co-working space.
| "Finally", I thought to myself. I can finally have all this extra
| free time that was spent commuting.
|
| And while it certainly _is_ beneficial to not have a long
| commute, I didn 't realize that I had inadvertently created a
| daily ritual for myself. During my train rides, I'd zone out and
| listen to podcasts while watching the surrounding scenery. It
| allowed me to decompress, focus on something else, and transition
| out of my work brain.
|
| I love working remote, but I have to admit that I miss that part
| of my day. I've tried to do things like biking or a treadmill
| with earphones in, but it's not the same.
| keyle wrote:
| I get up for work, do the kids thing, but then I walk nearly
| all the way to the train station, order a coffee as if I'm
| headed to the office, pick it up, turn around and walk back
| home.
|
| I completely agree with you. Routine is important and the first
| half hour of walking is usually trash, the real important
| thinking and debriefing happens in the 2nd half hour. I don't
| listen to podcasts or wear headphones anymore to get there
| sooner.
| drewcoo wrote:
| This is going to sound ridiculous, but is there any kind of
| mass transit nearby? Buses, even? If so, are there any routes
| you can take that get you back home in that amount(-ish) of
| time?
|
| Maybe part of what did it for you was motion and changing
| physical scenery. Maybe lack of control, knowing you had to
| ride all the way, uninterrupted, had something to do with it.
| Maybe it had to do with introducing strangers to your
| environment. And I'm sure there are more possible factors that
| helped you mentally decompress.
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