Some days the breathing doesn’t cut it. I’m too wound up to sit still and box-breathe, and forcing it just makes me more annoyed at the breathing. Those are the days I’ve learned to quit trying to think my way calm and just move.
Here’s what’s happening under the hood. Stress dumps chemistry into your body, adrenaline and cortisol, and that stuff is built to be burned off by moving, the way the wiring intended back when the stressor was a predator and not an email. Your body was made to move the stress through, not store it in a chair. Sit still and stew and it pools and sours. Get up and walk and you give it somewhere to go. 10 minutes, arms swinging, feet hitting the ground. The rhythm itself, left, right, left, settles the system in a way sitting never quite manages.
I do my best resets on foot. When a call lights me up, I take it outside, or I walk the block before I answer. The problem is usually the same size when I get back. I’m just a different size standing next to it. A 10-minute walk won’t fix your life, but it reliably fixes the next 10 minutes, and the next 10 minutes are usually where the real damage gets done.
Respond instead of react. Some days the gap you need is a lap around the building. Motion first, decision second.
I forget this constantly and try to white-knuckle it in the chair, jaw clenched, getting nowhere fast. Give yourself grace, then stand up and let your feet do the work your head can’t do sitting down.
So what decision this week are you trying to make sitting still that you should be making on a walk?
One Last thing - maybe you’re curious what's pulling your focus off track?
Discover your Focus Score here. —> Take our FREE Awareness Self Assessment and then learn what you can do to get yourself back on track. It’s just 24 simple questions.