Sunday Thoughts...

“Well, I got nothing. Might as well just write whatever is on your mind.” - Me.

There are some days when I sit down at my Mac and start to write, but nothing comes out. I try to look back through my iPhone Camera Roll to see if there is anything interesting that I took a photo of during the week, or stand outside drinking coffee reflecting on my life and nothing really comes to mind. From there, I usually go into a quick realization of how boring my life is and how no one cares to read what I have to say. However, I did not start writing to become a writer, or famous, or any of the other glory that comes with writing if you choose to take it that route. I just committed to writing, being creative, challenging my writing styles/formatting, and attempting to be bold enough to put something out. So, with that is mind, here are some Sunday thoughts.

What Matters:

Nothing really matters. I sometimes have to remember that unless an experience is going to change my life and make an impact years down the road, it doesn't matter. And even then, most of us will adapt and change to whatever that impact was. I do not want to come off careless or a care-free hippie, but nothing really matters, especially the day-to-day stuff. All the details at work, what were wearing, who's commenting and liking our posts, what we have for lunch, and all the other shit, doesn't matter. I feel like if we all stopped worrying about every little detail, comment, or what everyone else thinks, we would all be in a more stress-free and happy existence. When you find yourself getting upset at something, think about all the incredible aspects of your life and how awesome you are. I think you'll find out that whatever it was getting you wound up, doesn't matter.

Happiness - The Process:

I think it might be easy to say, "if it makes you happy then do it." What if making you happy is doing something crazy like going on a killing spree, robbing a bank, or putting others in danger. I don't want to be around that "happy" person. But, the theme of happiness has been on my mind. We live a world where people are trying to escape any emotion, there is essentially a drug for everything. I feel like unless we are willing to accept all of them emotions, even the ones that hurt, we can't really enjoy happiness. Earlier this week my friend said he took a Xanax, a drug designed to help with anxiety/depression/panic, to help curb some of the stresses going on in his life. He does not normally take the drug, but wanted to see if it would help. He said he felt no emotions while on Xanax, and quickly followed that statement up with, "I can see why people get addicted to it, you just don't feel anything. You just exist." Holy shit. We live in a time where being completely out of it is the way to be, just existing. What if the entire planet decided to take a Xanax. Would anything get done? Would anyone create anything? What if some of the greatest creators, leaders, and innovators our world has ever known all took a Xanax when they got stressed, upset, or felt panic?

There is absolutely a need for the medication for those who need them. Depression and anxiety are real. I am not discrediting that or that these medications help those who need them. Happiness and how you get to happiness has just been on my mind. I am a lucky guy and I try to keep my outlook positive, even when I experience some depression or anxiety. I think it is important for all of us to experience not just happiness, but other emotions that we go through.

I like these topics - I might continue to think about it and share more later.

Feel free to share your thoughts below.

This is my brain-dump for the week, let me know if it made any sense at all.

-YourFriendMatt

For Your Health...

I recently hit a milestone in personal development. Over the last year, I have done my best to find quiet-time for myself. Meditation has helped me manage stress, focus on what is important, and gain a second (sometimes third, fourth, and fifth) wind to approach the day or problems with a fresh set of eyes. I believe you can not help others, lead a team, or do your best work until you get yourself in order. This past week I hit 365 days straight of finding time to clear my head, and it feels incredible.

Before consistently meditating I had trouble sleeping. I would let the stressors of the day impact my night and even experienced a few night tremors. Waking up screaming and not knowing where you are, sucks. I also let stress impact my personal life by taking out my stress on others or being withdrawn from situations I should have been enjoying. I needed to take control. I spoke with my doctor, ran tests, and very luckily all was well physically. We discussed how stress kills, and how I could take control of it. I decided to give meditation a try. Quietly sitting, getting lost in my own head would be a great start to understanding why I was stressed and under self-inflicted daily pressures. Meditation forced me to start making sense of what was going on in there.

As it is men’s health month, I wanted to share and (hopefully) inspire anyone to give meditation a shot if you are feeling overwhelmed. I know that I can say meditation and breathing exercises have done wonders for me and I believe it can for you too. If you have any questions or need any advice on getting started, feel free to contact me at Matt@YourFriendMatt.com, I would love to help anyone!

It is okay not to be okay, man.

-YourFriendMatt

Meditation with YourFriendMatt...

"Damn, I feel better." - Me.

I spent the last 90 days carving out at least 10 minutes a day to sit quietly while trying to clear my mind. I have tried meditating on and off for the last few years, but when we decided to move back to Santa Monica, I wanted to give it my best shot. We had a ton on our plates with the move, new routines, and the logistics of our new life back on the West Coast. I have found that meditation has helped me prioritize and tackle my day.

Finding the best time was hard, but I feel that meditating early, especially in the morning before doing anything, helps me wipe my mental slate clean, so I can start to load it back up again with all the different choices, decisions, and potentially tricky interactions I will have throughout my day.

I was a little nervous to get into meditation because of the reaction I thought my family and friends would give me, but they all turned out to be pretty supportive. Now and then I get the, "what a hippie" look from them, but that's no big deal. Meditation helps me with stress and aligns my focus on what I need to get done. Taking a few minutes out for yourself every day to reset, breath and clear your mind has become critical to ensuring I give very day my all.

If you are ever at all interested in meditation or new to meditation, I would suggest getting a coach or app, like Headspace. They are an app that walks you through meditations and helps you understand that it is okay to have a mind that runs a million miles an hour, but finding the time to reel it back it helps. At least it has helped me. 

Stress kills and life is too short. I will gladly take the "what a hippie" glares from my family and friends rather than going gray early. 

If you want to try the App I use, Headspace, click here!

-YourFriendMatt

Social Media Hiatus...

I spend way too much time scrolling on my iPhone. When I calculate the time I spend looking through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all the other time wasters I use too many times a day, it blows my mind. This February I will be taking a break from social media to lift my head from the screen to see whats going on around me. Who knows maybe I will write more, read more or even work on the book I swear I am going to finish. Maybe I will spend more time running, meditating, hiking, working on projects in the house, finding new restaurants or walking around the neighborhood. Maybe I will be completely lost and go through withdraw, who knows. This hiatus challenge I want to stick to and get plugged back into my surroundings instead of seeing what pop culture is up too. It’ll be interesting to hear about new music, movies, shows and other things I am interested in from my friends like I use to, rather than mindlessly scrolling through thousands of photo posts.

Let’s see what happens.

-YourFriendMatt