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Mental Health


Created: 2021feb24wed


Updated: 2023feb25sat


This Post-Hike Blues video might actually be intended to refer to post-trek/thru-hike blues (because a quick morning-hike in the forest rather makes people bright and sunny, in stead of blue), but I think it also contains some tips and tricks applicable to just dealing with life in general sometimes:
 
(1) just keep walking, looking for little adventures all along the way,
 
(2) stand tall, literally, like you do when you get to the top of a mountain,
 
(3) look on the bright side, and be grateful for it ("Happy people aren't always grateful, but grateful people are ALWAYS happy"),
 
(4) eat to thrive, "you are what you eat, so eat what you want to be(come)", you know what I mean,

(5) sleep well, and put down (your phone), shut down (your computer) and wind down an hour before you go to bed,

If we set alarms to wake us up, why don't we set alarms to send us to bed? I mean: it seems only fair, doesn't it? So, now I have at least one daily alarm at 8pm. You see, the prerequisite for membership of the 5am club is membership of the 8pm club first. The days that I do not set an alarm to wake me up, I wake up early in any case, because I'd set an alarm to go to bed in the first place. I get enough sleep first, and then have enough time and energy and focus during the day -- without coffee or other energy boosters -- to do what needs to be done, in this order: sleep first, then work.

If you can't fall asleep, don't turn on the light, don't pick up your phone; just lie there, and wait... think, if you can't help it. Eventually, you will fall asleep. The more patient you are, the sooner it will happen. Besides, it's not so much about being unconscious as it is about just getting some rest. SleepPhones with some Smooth Pink, Blue, and Brown Noise helps for me. It's really worth the investment.

(6) creating & reflecting, in order to record and express the changes of which you've become aware within your self during and after hiking,

(7) diversify yourself, have other creative projects which you can pursue when it's not always possible to do what you usually do,

(8) move your body, play, roll around on the floor; it'll make you laugh, you'll feel happier for it; think about your movements while you're moving, try to make your next movement more interesting than the last; feel what feels right for the next move, and then do that; it's good for the mind, and for the brain,

(9) stay weird, and change the world around you to return it to the way it has been created to be ever since always.

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