The num-num nothings that we utter!!

What happens if we do not pin a situation as ‘stressful-situation’, ‘troublesome-situation’, ‘crisis-situation’, and such. Instead, we change our vocabulary to call it simply ‘a-situation’.

There is a study done by Steve Siebold, the author of 177 mental toughness, where he states that people with mid-level consciousness perceives anything out of the daily routine as stressful, crisis or troublesome. Whereas Champions label them as their mental gym.

Agreed that life was simpler a few decades back than it is today. We have unanimously consented to that so there is no debate there. But what we need to look into is, have we upgraded our mental capability to home in all the changing external factors? Today, we are no more in the quest of just food-clothing and shelter. The basic needs have expanded multifold with antlers and feelers spreading in all directions. Have we created the necessary upgrade needed to meet those needs or are we still operating with the old version?

The funny thing is, when it comes to our Tv, computers and phones, we understand the concept of upgradation and quickly act upon them. But when the same question comes in relation to our mental capability, we read such writeups as a good-read and forget all about it.

This time let’s not forget. Let’s take a pause and think about it.

With the vanishing demarcation of social structure, responsibilities of men and women often overlap. Each one of us are therefore learning to cope with this expanded demand.

 If we label this expansion as ‘stressful’ then it’s time we evaluate our mental score. Are we expanded? What are we doing to meet this demand? Are we working on it?

While there are many books, blogs and articles pointing us to the right direction, I believe that the first step to a destressed everyday life is to consciously change the vocabulary we use.

 How do we go about it?

On your phone, open the notepad and make a red dot every time you use a negative, defeating, unresourceful or unprogressive vocabulary to express a situation, incident, or an emotion. If you have the time and inclination, you can put a simple note too beside the dot that will help you remember the situation or the incident that provoked the unwanted vocab. You may also write down the particular word you used for that instance.  

Our aim is to decrease the number of such red dots till we do not need to open that notepad anymore.

The num-num nothings that we utter

Let’s understand that there is no ‘num-num nothings’ when we express ourselves in words aloud and in thoughts to self. For every word we utter, there is first a mental and an emotional trigger. There is no ‘just-like-that’ or ‘I didn’t mean it’. These triggers form a specific neural path something similar to the footpath that forms in the middle of the woods when often used by locals on a regular basis. Now, that path amidst the dense woods have become a real path which people refer to as ‘the-path’. They have stopped beating down the bushes around them and stork-steeping through the long grasses. Now everyone uses ‘the-path’. In a similar fashion, every situation presented will flow unhindered into the neural path of negativity that we have etched with repeated use, and we will function through that. Stress, anxiety, depression etc are some of the products free flowing through that very etched path. If we want to change the path so that we can influence the direction of the flow, we will have to take conscious effort –

‘Painful’ traffic or a moment to be with self and listen to some music?

A ‘crisis’ situation or an opportunity to learn something new?

Too many parameters to ‘handle’ or a mental gym to jog.

Too ‘complicated’ or ‘stimulating’. ‘Stressful’ or challenging.

‘Weird’ or interesting.

 Let’s make an effort to replace some of the vocab from our dictionary, that we feel doesn’t serve us, and see what gives. Something will shake for sure – something new will happen – something beautiful will emerge and some progress within self will be made!

The views expressed in the blog is purely mine and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now or will be affiliated.