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Keeping your sanity can be a trick in today’s crazy world. Here is a trick I picked up recently that might help.
Our world continues to change and stay the same. Fads come and go at the speed of light, and some of our underlying societal problems seem to be the same today as decades ago.
You need to focus on what you can do toward keeping your sanity. If you watch the news, read social media, or talk to anyone it feels like the world is going to end tomorrow. It hasn’t yet, and probably won’t tomorrow either.
By doing this blog and podcast I have to figure out and put into words something that helped me while going through my 75 Hard Challenges. When I was doing the blog daily I articulated the lessons that I learned that day.
By stopping to think about what I learned that day, it made me realize I heard it all before. But now, I was learning the lessons.
Recently I started doing a 3-2-1 video that helped me focus like this blog and podcast.
A 3-2-1 video is simply a video you make of yourself telling yourself:
- 3 successes or things you are thankful for recently,
- 2 regrets or things you would adjust,
- and 1 piece of advice you would give future you.
I did the video a few times and it helped by keeping my sanity going in the right direction but seemed to take a lot of effort. So I changed it.
Now I use the formula to journal. I just write the three successes I’ve had since I last journaled, the two regrets or adjustments to my life I should have made, and the one piece of advice I would give future me.
You can do this and it will help keep your sanity in insane times.
If you like the idea of doing a video, pick up your phone, hit record, and point it at yourself. Then, on camera figure it out. I felt stupid so I scripted it and it took me too long.
If you want to do it on paper you could simply make a list. List three things you are grateful for or you were successful at. List two things you would have done differently. And finally, give yourself one piece of advice you want to remember for the future.
None of this is for your grandkids to look back at, but it could be something that helps you keep your sanity as the world falls apart around you.
We can make the world a better place by making ourselves better and helping the people around us be better. It’s simple, but not easy. Start by looking in the mirror, and making a change.
Ben Branam