Joy of the Mundane

Super basic mood boosting off-screen actions.

No matter what I achieve in front of the screen, no matter how engrossed I am in my current ‘thing’, no matter how valuable or essential the work may be, there comes a point of exhaustion. The nature of ‘work’ for most middle class westerners has certainly changed radically – and not for the better if you ask me.

Now I find myself staring at the screen again. The computer has become a portal for everything – reading, writing, research, listening to and producing music, digitising art, communication and even socialising (which it fails at terribly, but for which we were all conditioned this during 2020).

This can all get overwhelming, and leads to a kind of screen fatigue, where one goes round and round different portals of information, ‘checking’ for the next little nugget. And the truth is, it’s never going to be that one last satisfying mouthful you wish for, just click the X and get on with something else. I guarantee you will feel better. Feel free to do it right now!

However if you are still here, some tips and ideas will follow…        

So here is what I go and do when I feel the panic of screen stasis arising:

Cooking and Food Prep.

There is so much prep work that can be done in the kitchen – from meal prepping, to making flavoured brines, to fermentation, to baking, the options are endless. This kind of work is a uniquely human one – no other beings seem to cook and prepare food in the way that we do. When we touch the food, we not only connecting with the future components of our body, but we are grounding ourselves.

There are myriad options to choose. I’m planning to post a more in depth guide to my basic fermentation and magical cooking methods soon.

Washing up.

Its fitting to put this one after the cooking. The humble and hated task of washing up. One so despised by younglings and students that many opt out of the act all together - favouring foods with little mess to create (usually dire microwave affairs) or even take-away garbage. The perennial stack of pizza boxes in the students home indicates the aversion to this oh so essential task.

What’s the bright side of washing up then? One of my friends in the university days, a ‘washer-upper’ had the attitude of “imagine you are washing the baby Jesus”. This one is really a great exercise for engaging in the task. Personally I love the sense of order and completion I get when the task is over, and who doesn’t like putting their hands in that nice warm water?

Gardening – Planting seeds.

If you have any outside space, cherish it. No space is too small to grow something – we can all be self sufficient in some ways. If growing food is not your thing, there are easy ways to make your outside space a verdant paradise too, it really grows itself with a little encouragement. Again, grounding comes into this, obviously.

Some have a very strict attitude to when you can plant what, but in my experience, this is not quite the case (some folks just like gatekeeping). I’ve planted all sorts at all times of year and had success.

Sweeping the floor, hoovering, cleaning, being ‘Houseproud’.

“If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music... Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Washing yourself.

Well duh. But no, this is a serious ritual that we all partake in, without perhaps realising the magnitude of the magic we are doing when we engage with water – our essence. We can have lots and lots of fun with water and temperature. Allow yourself to play and enjoy your bath and shower time – don’t let it turn into a chore!

Never underestimate the transformative power of a short walk.

“There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.”

― Alfred Wainwright, A Coast to Coast Walk

Again, sounds so basic that it could not make an impact… well, it does. Just 20 minutes of walking in nature daily will totally rewire your existence. Avoid any distractions by leaving them at home. Ignore the voices telling you ‘it’s too cold’ or ‘it’s raining’ or ‘I don’t have time’ (what, do you need to spend MORE time on the screen? Lol), wrap up, and just go – remember you can always get warm and dry again.  There is so much evidence that this is good for you.

Super Basic.

This article has been super basic, and the reason for this is that in the modern world, the basic and the simple have been somewhat dismissed by the idea that every moment needs to be exceptional, and needs to be posted online. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in ‘the digital world’ that we need to go back to those basics, and feel how wonderful it is to be responsible for our health and our spaces, our homes. This is the real world, and you impact it every moment.

Thanks for reading :)