Alright, so everyone’s been going on about “wellness” this and “wellness” that. You see it everywhere, right? And usually, it comes with a price tag. A hefty one, most of the time. I was feeling pretty run down myself a while back, just ground down by the usual stuff, you know? Work, life, the whole shebang.
My First Attempts Weren’t Great
So, I started looking around. What are people doing? I saw all these ads for fancy retreats, expensive supplements, complicated mindfulness apps that wanted a subscription. I even tried a couple of things. Bought some weird green powder once – tasted like lawn clippings and cost a fortune. Did nothing. Then there was this online course, promised to unlock inner peace or something. Mostly just unlocked my wallet.
I remember thinking, this can’t be it. Surely, feeling okay shouldn’t be a luxury item. It felt like another thing to buy, another thing to stress about not doing “right.” It was all a bit much, honestly. I was trying to find a cure for feeling stressed, and the search itself was becoming stressful. Irony, huh?
Stumbling Onto Something Simple
Then, one afternoon, I was just fed up. I switched off my phone, just for a bit. Not because I read some guru’s advice, but because I genuinely couldn’t be bothered with it anymore. I just sat there. On my old, slightly lumpy sofa. Did absolutely nothing.
And that’s when it sort of clicked. The “cure,” if you want to call it that, wasn’t something I had to get. It was something I had to stop doing.
My process, if you can even call it that, became super simple:
- I decided to carve out a tiny bit of time each day. Sometimes just ten minutes, sometimes longer if I had it.
- I found a quiet spot. Could be anywhere, really. My bedroom, a park bench, even the quiet carriage on the train if I timed it right (though that’s a gamble these days).
- I turned off the noise. Phone on silent and out of sight. No TV, no podcasts, no music. Just… quiet.
- I just sat. Or sometimes I’d lie down. Didn’t try to meditate in any formal way, didn’t try to “empty my mind” – because let’s be real, that’s harder than it sounds. I just let my thoughts drift. No judgment, no trying to control anything.
- I focused, just a little, on my breathing. Not counting, not doing any fancy techniques. Just noticing it. In and out. Simple.
What Happened Next
You know what? It actually started to work. Slowly, at first. But after a few days of this deliberate “nothingness,” I felt a change. I was a bit calmer. Things didn’t get to me as much. It wasn’t some miracle overnight transformation, none of that nonsense. But it was a real, noticeable shift.
And the best part? It was completely free. No apps, no subscriptions, no special equipment. Just me, a bit of time, and a willingness to disconnect from the constant barrage of stuff demanding my attention.
It’s funny, isn’t it? All those complicated solutions out there, and the simplest thing, the thing that costs nothing, was what actually helped. Sometimes I think we overcomplicate things looking for a fix, when the real “cure” is just to stop, breathe, and give ourselves a genuine break. Anyway, that’s what I found, and it’s been working for me.
