Hey friends,
It’s been a while, and I've missed connecting with you.
Last month was challenging for me, so I’ve been using June to recover.
Slowly, but surely, I’ve been making progress.
In this letter, I want to share small but powerful actions that have made a big difference.
Do small, but ‘good’ things
- Good: going for a walk, getting some sunlight, saying no to overeating.
- Bad: watching TV, scrolling on social media, leaving things to the last minute.
Watching TV isn’t inherently bad, but when I felt down, I found it easier to pick up the remote and turn on Netflix. I would sit there for hours and I ended up binge eating.
This didn't help me accomplish anything.
Except I wasted time and I overate.
One day, I had ‘go for a walk’ on my to-do list.
I put on my shoes and went for a walk that evening.
I didn’t think twice about the time or whether I felt like it.
I just did it.
This helped me get in some steps that day, gave my mind a rest, and made me feel like I did something for myself (my health and mind).
Act right away
Since that night of just putting my shoes on and going for a walk, I stopped thinking twice.
Especially if it’s a ‘good’ thing.
I just go for it now.
My mood has improved since.
I dare you to do 1 minute of stretching or 5 pushups right this instant.
How do you feel?
Exactly.
Act right away.
Apply this to everything you do.
Reduce the scope
Going to the gym felt so difficult, that I had to convince myself to go by reducing the scope.
For example:
- Do ONE set of each workout, or
- Only do ONE workout of 3 sets and 10 reps, or
- Do whatever you can in 30 minutes
And then I’m free to go.
I often ended up doing the entire workout because I tricked my mind into showing up.
The harder something feels, the more you reduce the scope.
But be sure to act right away.
That’s why I dared you to do a minute of stretching or 5 push-ups just then
Heck, if you haven’t done it yet because 5 push-ups felt difficult, DO 1 RIGHT NOW.
In showing up, and taking action, I built trust in myself.
Reduce phone time
Since I’ve been feeling down, my brain’s been craving to feel good.
So I was mindlessly searching for it on my phone.
Whether it was
- looking for emails from potential client responses,
- checking in for a possible new follower on Instagram, or some love on any of my posts
I was looking for something.
This would take hours, and then I would realize I wasted time.
Adding to the bad I felt already.
Especially when I only ended up getting a short-lived dopamine hit or none.
So I’d just feel bad again. It’s a vicious cycle.
Ever since I realized this, I’ve been blocking off some intentional time away from my phone.
The only thing I’m allowed to do is tick things off my list.
And only when I’ve gotten things done - I get to do whatever.
Lesson
One of my biggest realizations from feeling down to feeling better was that
I stopped trusting myself
I was slowly putting things off.
Slowly telling my brain that:
- I don’t do things I plan to do,
- I am a procrastinator,
- I’m not good enough to follow through with action
Because of this lack of trust…
Subconsciously, I was building self-doubt.
And slowly, I doubted myself so much, everything felt so difficult.
I felt like I couldn’t do the simplest things.
That’s why randomly going for that walk or going to the gym for less than a fraction of my workout helped.
'Action' by doing a thing that was 'good' for me 'right away', helped.
The aim is to do that on repeat.
To summarize
When you put things off,
when you don’t show up,
when you don’t do the work,
you slowly lose self-respect.
But guess what?
You also slowly build self-doubt.
To eliminate it, you have to build that trust and self-respect again.
Because nobody is going to do that for you.
How can anyone trust and believe in you when you don’t?
If you have someone who truly believes in you, great.
These people can help pull you up when you’re down.
But always, start with you.
You need you most.
Let's build that trust and self-respect together. What small action will you take today? Reply and let me know—I’d love to hear from you!
Your friend,
Sora
