Help Yourself.
Things sometimes play on my mind at unhelpful times.
This morning was a case in point. I woke up far earlier than I'd hoped, with a few niggles that I just couldn’t shake. Before long, I was wound up, both by what I was thinking about and when I was thinking about it; not that I’d made an active decision to mull things over, as my subconscious had made that decision for me.
I eventually realised that I wasn’t getting anywhere and I certainly wasn’t going to fall back asleep. There also wasn't a chance of resolving what was on my mind, as this would involve talking to people who weren’t in my bed, and even if they were, it would have been rude to wake them up. I did what I should have done sooner and got up to make some breakfast and say hello to the cat (which isn't a euphemism).
I also did something I got into the habit of doing when I was rehearsing my solo show earlier this year and wrote down what I felt needed resolving. This helps me shift from being overwhelmed by all the non-specific worries in my head to having a plan of action. It’s like having a mental shopping list (as in ‘a catalogue of what’s on the mind’ and not ‘a checklist of stupid things to buy in Sainsbury’s’). It doesn’t fix everything instantly, but the act of putting pen to paper makes the problems more tangible and a little easier to metaphorically tick off.
(There’s nothing worse than being ticked off metaphorically.)
This stems from my interest in meditation and my attempts to be more mindful. I tried to apply this to last Thursday’s Mostly Comedy, which is always a stressful day, with problems coming at you from every angle. Glyn and I describe it, perhaps crassly, as being ‘bummed by life’: only just being on top of your itinerary, while the high-speed train of what needs to be done pushes you along faster than you’d like. There were a couple of times when a member of staff asked me a question, when I was in the midst of something else. Rather than instantly dropping what I was doing, as I usually would, I politely asked them to wait a moment while I finished it. I’ve never done this before in this context and, by God, did it help.
They say men can’t multi-task (whoever ‘they’ are). This is rubbish. Having said that, there’s no harm in focusing on a thing at a time, if it makes you more productive and less stressed. I may write a self-help book. If I do, I'll give it the aggressive title ‘Help Yourself'.
This morning was a case in point. I woke up far earlier than I'd hoped, with a few niggles that I just couldn’t shake. Before long, I was wound up, both by what I was thinking about and when I was thinking about it; not that I’d made an active decision to mull things over, as my subconscious had made that decision for me.
I eventually realised that I wasn’t getting anywhere and I certainly wasn’t going to fall back asleep. There also wasn't a chance of resolving what was on my mind, as this would involve talking to people who weren’t in my bed, and even if they were, it would have been rude to wake them up. I did what I should have done sooner and got up to make some breakfast and say hello to the cat (which isn't a euphemism).
I also did something I got into the habit of doing when I was rehearsing my solo show earlier this year and wrote down what I felt needed resolving. This helps me shift from being overwhelmed by all the non-specific worries in my head to having a plan of action. It’s like having a mental shopping list (as in ‘a catalogue of what’s on the mind’ and not ‘a checklist of stupid things to buy in Sainsbury’s’). It doesn’t fix everything instantly, but the act of putting pen to paper makes the problems more tangible and a little easier to metaphorically tick off.
(There’s nothing worse than being ticked off metaphorically.)
This stems from my interest in meditation and my attempts to be more mindful. I tried to apply this to last Thursday’s Mostly Comedy, which is always a stressful day, with problems coming at you from every angle. Glyn and I describe it, perhaps crassly, as being ‘bummed by life’: only just being on top of your itinerary, while the high-speed train of what needs to be done pushes you along faster than you’d like. There were a couple of times when a member of staff asked me a question, when I was in the midst of something else. Rather than instantly dropping what I was doing, as I usually would, I politely asked them to wait a moment while I finished it. I’ve never done this before in this context and, by God, did it help.
They say men can’t multi-task (whoever ‘they’ are). This is rubbish. Having said that, there’s no harm in focusing on a thing at a time, if it makes you more productive and less stressed. I may write a self-help book. If I do, I'll give it the aggressive title ‘Help Yourself'.
