Highs Below Zero

In an effort to end the doomscroll and grow more as a person and as a business, I changed a few habits this year.

A lot of my time on my phone was dedicated to consumption. (By “a lot,” I mean sometimes 3 to 6 hours a day. Yikes!). We’re talking FB, Instagram, YouTube, and anything else that makes me a consumer more than a creator.

Scrolling feeds does not feed my soul, nor my body, but for a while it felt like it at least fed my mind. Eventually, it stopped even doing that.

I want to do, to make, to explore, but I have been bogged down by quagmires of my own creation. Lately, I have been dealing with the mess, the physical and mental clutter, learning to navigate the marshes.

I have itchy fingers. I want to be doing something. I don’t enjoy being idle. I don’t know how to direct the energy. I direct it into thinking.

I like using my phone, I like having such a  powerful tool at my fingertips. Plus, I need it for my daily life. I figured it would be too inconvenient if I stopped using my phone altogether.

The easier and more productive option was changing the apps on which I spent the most time.

No phone at all? That’s a goal for another day. A different Veronica.

My Top 4

A few months ago, my top 4 apps would have been my browser, fb, instagram, and youtube. I deleted FB, Insta, and YouTube, and I have a new “most used” list.

Browser: My browser usage continues to be high. A bit of consumption here, but I have cut back. Mostly research, some admin. Impossible to get rid, so must be reduced. I have a 2 hr cap.

Email – I guess I write a lot here too. Admin, important, almost never base consumption.

Jetpack – Blog, Thoughts, Stories Bits and Ideas. My “anti-consumption, pro-production” origin. It is nice to be able to write, edit, and review on the go. I prefer growing this site and putting my stuff here and directing people on social media to it here than just keeping it on FB or some other random website. I guess this is a kind of desire of digital sovereignty.

Calendar – Scheduling. I have gotten super into scheduling, making notes for myself to follow up on tasks. I pair it with Jetpack sometimes – I will schedule time to work on a blog post, for example. I am dealing with a lot of personal maintenance issues right now, but hopefully I will be able to dedicate more time to art and less to chores once I get streamlined and set up.

Scheduling is something that one must be taught, or learn, and I finally think I have figured out a way that works for me.

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I use my phone less overall, but the time I spend on here is more enriching to me, and hopefully, to you, whoever is reading this. I don’t know if this is helpful to others, but it’s helping me, and that’s a start.