Path to Mental Clarity

We all know how it goes. 

Tired of my monotonous life and routine, I decided to try something different during quarantine. Something not everyone would try out. The path to mental clarity. 

One day we’re born, one day we die. We try to understand and comprehend all that happens in between, but we have no idea what happened before or what will happen after. As a result, determining the actual meaning or significance of our being here is quite difficult. How can we determine why we are here if we can't discern how or where we came from? 

Along similar lines, how can we judge if any of our current acts have any meaning if we don't know where we're heading or what we're going to become? Ever since humans achieved consciousness, the question "what is the meaning of life?" has plagued humankind due to the uncertainty of both our collective pasts and futures. 

As a species, we've never been able to answer this issue objectively, but many of us have sought solace in a variety of philosophies to at least alleviate the discomfort it produces. According to many different religions, a deity created the entire universe, placed us all in it, and whatever we do on this Earth will decide when and how we spend our eternity thereafter. 

Some others see the meaning of life as the love we share with our friends, family, and loved ones. Others feel that the mere existence of life is what makes it worthwhile to live. Life, on the other hand, has no significance for nihilists. All action, suffering, and emotions, whether positive and negative, are completely baseless and pointless. Nihilism is the belief in nothing.  

Consider the world to be a drama. What you are fundamentally, deep down, is the fabric and framework of existence itself. Being this unique and special, being all that we can be and yet a tiny microscopic organism is capable enough to just destroy lives.  

Sitting in my room, behind those four walls all day, I was compelled to step outside of my comfort zone. I was prepared to start a new life. Why is this so? Because our lives have changed, and we are living in uncertain times. Nobody could foretell what would happen across the world, but one thing was certain: only you had the ability to mold your time and life. 

A cluttered mind makes way for a cluttered life. Everything you aspire to do in the world begins from within inwardly, and it's a tragedy every time you let the chaos in your mind restrict you from your potential goals, ideas, and self-expression.

The way you organize arrange your thoughts will influence everything you do. 

Don't make the mistake of overlooking this vital thing. Mental clarity affects your beliefs, your willpower, and the decisions you make to move forward in life. You are the one accountable for pulling yourself together and holding your head high by expecting nothing less than the best from yourself. 

The last year has been difficult for everyone; the pandemic has affected everyone, regardless of age, gender or location. I've seen the happiest individuals I've known experience sadness, and the sad ones experience depression. 

 

I feel the pandemic had a greater impact on our mental health than on our physical health. Of course, the virus was a calamity, but I believe it had an influence on our mental health more than we thought it would. 

You have this ridiculous mindset, you know. I used to think that we were psychologically tough, that nothing could possibly break us in any way, but last year proved me wrong. It made me understand how important our minds and thoughts are and how much they influence our lives. And, certainly, better late than never, I realized what I needed to do and began working towards a better version of myself. 

Thoughts, something which everyone has and often something people don’t want to have. You see, thoughts are strange and weird at times, it’s unordered and random. During the last year, I just decided to organize my thoughts and extract the best out of them. How? By writing a “Journal”.  

While doing this, I encourage sitting down somewhere comfortable with a hot drink and a selection of tunes that you love listening to. That's what I do and it’s something simply great to do in the morning. Also, let's face it, it can be tough to get things going at times, so the more welcoming the day is, I believe, the better. So, to summarize, my setup consists of three simple components: The daily tracker, my weekly reviews, and a monthly reset process. 

I jot down daily behaviors and thoughts in my journal, and then take a few minutes at night to evaluate them and determine their relevance. The most crucial aspect of journaling is that we must constantly take out time to reflect on ourselves. I mean, what's the point of writing things down if you're not going to evaluate or reflect on them? 

You can learn a lot about yourself, such as when you are most attentive or when you are tired or out of order. Nights are chaotic for me, I can't concentrate or focus on anything, so I turn to Prime or YouTube, but mornings are really appealing and I tend to be more attentive. If assigned a task in the morning, I would do it in half the time it would take me in the evenings.  

And, to return to my distribution, I split my notebook into three sections: a daily tracker, weekly reviews, and a monthly review. The Daily Tracker assists me in reevaluating my daily or regular routines and activities.  

Starting with the daily tracker, which I began doing a little over a year ago; I can vouch for the fact that it is such an effective method to visually demonstrate consistency when it comes to habits. Essentially what I'm doing here is, at the beginning of each month I tick down the days and then the habits that I feel are important and beneficial for me so that I can focus on and cultivate them. 

The cool thing about this is that I find that those habits grow and alter over time. I jot down these specifically by hand since it is so much more rewarding for me that way. 

And after a month or two of analysis, I concluded that I had enough time in my life to do anything I want, whenever I want. But then how come I don't accomplish anything?  

We live in a fast-paced world, and I sometimes feel like I'm being swept along with it. I'm constantly planning because I want to establish a nice future and a reputation for myself. After all, I want to be on top of things and move ahead, achieve that cutting-edge. It's strange to think that even on our worst days, we're all productivity gods in comparison to folks from the past.  

No messenger could match the speed of your text message during the 16th century. No mapmaker could hope for the precision of your location services. Nobody could tell the time as precisely as we can now. Consider for a moment if individuals were estimating time back then; they would be lucky if they figured it out by night. 

I believe that rediscovering my inner self, which I lost during the pandemic, is the key to mental clarity. The self I consider to be the finest version of myself. It's easy to lose sight of things, and I'm realizing how overdoing it with self-imposed organization, pressure, and expectation restricts my access to creativity, inspiration, and the magic that occasionally happens by chance.  

I've made myself unhappy by peering over others’ heads to see what they have that I don't, which is why I'm constructing this piece. I've felt a weight piling up on my shoulders this year in particular, and I think it would be beneficial for me to put this out there, let it go, and move forward amidst our world's abundance. 

There is always someone who has more than you. Do you imagine what people from 500 years ago would say of the society all of us now live in? Incredible opportunities that even royalty from that era couldn't have imagined; and yet it's difficult to argue that they were not much happier than us right now. So, there is something more going on here. But the problem is, everything is relative and it’s in human nature to compare. 

 

You must accept that someone else will still be better than you; you simply cannot be the best. When you realize this, you begin your journey to happiness. Our ultimate aim must be to better ourselves.  

To delve deep inside and discover our true selves, the strongest version of ourselves. Each and everyone in this world has the potential to be the best at something; we all just need to spend some time reflecting on ourselves and figuring things out.  

You only have one life, you only come around here once. Why wait? Why not start now? It doesn’t matter what your situation is, it doesn’t matter. One day you’ll be dead. Just start now. Because if you don’t start now, it’s quite likely you’ll never start. And most people never get themselves off the ground, simply because they’re too afraid. But they’re not realizing that each day that they don’t do it is another day closer to their grave.  

You only have one life, so invest it in yourself. People, relatives, lovers, friends, and many others will come and go, but our body and mind will always be with us. Invest time, take time away from your demanding schedule, and focus on being a better version of yourself. Work out, practice yoga, and spend time with the people you care about. Keep doing something.  

The method I used was simple, yet it was a difficult path to bodily and mental clarity. Take a month off, disconnect from social media, and erase all of your contacts.  

I just had a couple of books and Google at my disposal. I had downloaded several of my favorite games and episodes of my favorite television shows to watch during my break. I caught up with pals, had long conversations with them, and went on long walks. We went out to eat and had a good laugh. Life was fantastic at the time. There were really no distractions from either side.  

I finally began spending time with my family, cooking with my mother, and going on walks with my father. In my viewpoint, life was peaceful.  

Life with mental clarity and a sense of contentment is the actual life; life with technology and social media is overrated.  

I know last year was and continues to be difficult for many, but I believe the quarantine has brought me back. I'd lost myself somewhere in the process, and as a result, both my mind and body had suffered. However, I take pride in myself for finding the courage and taking out time to rediscover myself, to find a route to a better version of myself.  

Life will be lonely; aside from your parents, I doubt anybody else will wish you well. Get out of your regular routine existence and do what you desire. Life is fleeting. Life is presently going at such a breakneck pace that I feel like I was born just a week ago.  

Soon enough, before you even realize it, you'll be 80 years old. And you'll be filled with guilt, nightmares, and, worst of all, regrets when you near death. So, get out of your comfort zone, get in shape, gain mental clarity, and rediscover your best self. Work hard while you can, focus on your education, study and earn good grades; even if you don’t achieve what you set out for, you’ll at least be proud that you gave it your best shot. 

If you look at all the successful people in the world, one common thread between all of them is that they’ve all gotten out of their comfort zone. They all got to work, got themselves busy. The gap between now and your ultimate life is action. That’s the link. You have to go out there and do what needs to be done. 

What excuse do you have? What reason do you have? Turn this device off, get out there and get to work.