Tell Yourself Why

The Blueprint Year: First Test Approved

Last week an idea popped into my head: What if I wrote down a reason for the things I did everyday?

Why did I stretch?
Why did I draw?
Why did I do the dishes?

I didn’t think about it too much. I thought it would be interesting and got right to it.

Now that I have a week’s worth of reasons, I can tell you two things: 1. This is by far the fastest way to identify any stress triggers and 2. Doing this with the right intention helps mental health quickly.

Prior to doing this, I knew I was stressed. And I thought the reason was obvious: I’m poor and struggling to find a job. That is true, but there’s more to it.

I found that right after I did a task competitively or my reason was “because I wanted to win”, the next 2-3 tasks had reasons like: “I felt overwhelmed”, “I felt stressed”, “I needed to calm down”, “I felt drained”.

I thought making tasks competitive was motivating me. In reality, it’s been draining me. Now I know it’s better for me to approach things from the perspective of wanting to learn and grow at my own pace.

Because my intention is to create a life that is calm, stable, and cozy, many of my reasons align with that.

For example, instead of writing “I did the dishes because I needed to.”
I write, “I did the dishes because I deserve a clean kitchen and nice plates to eat off of.”

Another would be: instead of “I did laundry because I had to.”
I write, “I did laundry because a clean space helps my mental health.”

One more: instead of “I meditated because I wanted to.”
I write, “I meditated because I felt drained and needed rejuvenation.”

Yes, some things have to be done, but giving my brain another reason motivates me immeasurably better. I noticed towards the end of this week I only had one rough mental health day this week— which is far less than usual. And that day I was able to still get things done.

When I was reading back through my reasons, I realized that most of them draw back to “because I love myself”.

Without realizing it, I had been telling myself how deserving I am of good, how worthy I am of comfort, and how important my well-being is.

This is one of the fastest results I’ve ever seen in an exercise for either improving my mental health or identify issues so I can find solutions.

Week one of doing it was such a success that I’m going to continue it into week two and see what other patterns emerge.

Thanks for reading!

XOXOAM

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