How to be in the moment...even when the moment sucks
Wow! Does anyone else feel like July flew by? I feel like I blinked my eyes and it was gone. For those of you who have followed along on Instagram, you are probably aware I spent most of the month traveling. Los Angeles-San Francisco-To being all over France. It was a whirlwind, to say the least. While spending an activity-filled week in California, I got the call asking if I was interested in going to France, (is that even a question that needs asking?) I flew out less than a week later, which gave me little time to catch my breath and digest my previous trip before I was jumping into the next adventure. Oh, and you best believe it was an adventure.
Part of me loves constantly being on the go, It helps make it easier to really be in the moment since you have little time to think about anything else. The other part of me craves, stability and downtime to recollect my thoughts and process through all my emotions. It's all about balance. Both for my psychical and mental health. Before getting on the plane to France, I made the commitment to maximize my time over there, it's not very often you get the opportunity to spend two weeks traveling 5star all over France. Those who know me personally know that I swear by my routines, which means eating dinner no later than 6 PM on most days and being in bed by 10 PM. Considering we wouldn't sit down for dinner until 9:30 each night and most nights we wouldn't make it to bed until 2 AM, saying I was out of my comfort zone would be an understatement. Buttt, I made a commitment, and also being in France made it MUCH easier to be uncomfortable.
The most valuable piece of information I can give anyone planning on traveling to France is this, "Est ce que je peux avoir de l'eau, s'il vous plait". It means, "Can I have some water, please." Trust me, this is valuable knowledge considering when you sit down to eat, whether it's lunch or dinner, they're filling your glass with rosé...not water. Over there if you don't ask for it, they do NOT bring it. It took me a week to finally learn this line and it became somewhat of a joke because every time I sat down you'd see the panic on my face trying to make sure the waitress knew to bring water to the table. "De l'eau, Water, Agua...send help"
After a few days on the trip, I think as a whole the group decided to say Screw it, we're in France so we may as well eat and drink like the French do and save the stress for after the trip. Speaking for myself, I can definitely say I committed to that one...have you tried the croissants over there? I did. I tried a lot. Let's just say, Rosé toute la journée (Rosé all day) quickly became the motto for the trip. The trip was action-packed and nothing short of a blast, but by my last day there my body was sending out S.O.S signals, in the form of old triggers and mini emotional breakdowns.
I don't know if it's my body withdrawing from all the wine and pastries, but coming back home I definitely realized that post-travel blues is most definitely a real thing. It feels like snapping a rubber band. The last month was like being catapulted forward at high velocity and coming back was like the aftermath where the band sort of just plummets back to where it started and you're left thinking, "Well that was fun...but, what now?" It's so easy to be in the moment when your moments are filled with tons of excitement and non-stop activities, but what about the times where things feel like they move so slow? It's easy to get caught up in reliving the past or thinking about your next move, but that means you aren't present in the now, which in turn leads you to feel that post-travel depression. So how can you learn to be in the moment, even if sometimes the moment might not be ideal? Here are some of the ways I've learned to deal with my "snapbacks"...
SURRENDER
I went to my yoga class this morning in hopes for some inspiration to get me out of my funk. Now, I love going to flow because to me flow means I do not have to hold any position for too long. Apparently, my teacher today didn't have that same understanding because we held a lot of high crescents and chair poses for 10 breath counts. Once I got past cursing out the teacher in my head and all my other aggressive thoughts, I had a nice little laugh. This was exactly what I asked for... The Universe is a funny little trickster like that. I asked for answers and it literally provided me with a lesson on how to be present even when the present feels kind of sucky. Anyone who does yoga is familiar with the process of feeling the poses and knows that the easiest way to get through the tough ones is to release the tension and thoughts surrounding the pose and just surrender to it. Breathe and feel the pain, rather than stress about the pain. The same goes for life. When we just surrender to the moment, we realize that like yoga, the pain is only temporary. When we allow ourselves to feel it and understand it, we become a step closer to mastering it and moving on from it.
Each Moment Has Its Purpose
Whatever your basis of faith is whether it's God, or as I refer to it, The Universe, it can serve as a foundation to the thoughts you create. When it comes to my relationship with that higher power, I have a very strong trust system that helps me through even the toughest of times. No matter how difficult things may be, I trust that it is happening for a reason, maybe even serving as a way to teach me something important. The most IMPORTANT thing you can do is instead of running away from whatever is happening, be present. Find the purpose in the moment. If you are feeling bad or upset, ask yourself why? and what can YOU do to make it better? Coming back from France, I immediately jumped back into my routine. Hitting the gym and detoxing my body from all the bad stuff I put into it and really just focusing on giving myself the TLC I'd been lacking while on the road. Instead of being sad that I don't really have much going on right now, I'm focusing and how grateful I am to have the downtime to get my life and health back in order, and thanks to the trip, I now know I have a few things that I have to clean up and continue to work on in order to avoid future stressful situations. Life is all about the ebbs and flows, so when you're in an ebb learn to love it and then learn how to grow from it, cause you never know when you're going to get a call out of the blue asking if you want to fly to France at the end of the week...:p
DON'T LET THE MOMENT PASS YOU BY
It might sound a little redundant, but people, please realize that once a moment is gone, it's not coming back! I am sooo grateful that I really worked through be uncomfortable on the trip and really committed to enjoying every moment because it was one of the most incredible trips ever and I won't have another like it. Literally. I will never be able to experience those exact moments again, so thank god I enjoyed every second while it happened. Even the moments I wasn't enjoying, I was still enjoying... does that make sense? are you lost yet? It's ok to feel like shit sometimes. It's ok to think, shiiit this kinda sucks. But just like all those moments you wish would never end, you soon find out they always do. Sad but it's true. So instead of trying to rush the shitty moments. Learn to savor them, because then it makes the good ones that much sweeter. I challenge you to take advantage of each moment. Say the things you want to say and do the things you want to do, and then deal with the worry and anxiety afterward. Hell, you might just find out that the worry and anxiety...doesn't even really exist.
*Head Exploding*
Whaaat. This is like some inception type shit. The way to be in the moment, even the moments that suck is to just be in the moment? Yeah, let that sit and marinate for a little. Instead of telling you to think about it, I'll just say to apply it. Stop stressing. Stop thinking about your next move. Stop thinking about how much fun last week was and just start living in the now...whatever that means to you. As soon as you commit to this thought, is when you start to realize, that while we might not control our pasts or our futures, we do have control over this exact moment. So what are you choosing to do with yours?
