#39 Does counting down help us?
Today is the first day of December so many of us (including me) will be starting the official countdown to Christmas on our advent calendar (image above of my trusty ‘fill it yourself’ one!). I do love Christmas but I am not quite looking forward to it as much as usual this year. I think it’s because it’s usually so nice to spend so many days at home without so much travel and rushing around. But after spending SO many days at home this year, what I really want is to NOT be here so much.
It seems an appropriate time to think about the concept of counting down in general as we humans do it a lot. Here are a few things I am counting down to:
After the frustration and mass-cancellations of 2020, I am counting down to a time when I get my freedom back to do the stuff I haven’t been able to. (Trouble is we don’t actually know what number to count down to!)
These are the main things I am looking forward to:
o Hugging anyone that comes within 1 foot of me (whether I know them or not!)
o Meeting team members at work that I have never met in person
o Doing yoga in a hot yoga studio
o Drinking in a crowded pub
o Eating out in a restaurant with a big group of people
o Going skiing
o Dancing in a public place
o Booking whatever beauty treatment I want (all of them)
There are now only 4 days left in the count down to the arrival of my new puppy Teddy who is arriving this weekend and is no doubt going to bring a great deal of joy to my life
I also hope that my countdown to finding a hairdresser to tame my increasingly wild hair won’t be too long. Having decided to change salons at the beginning of this year after having yet again had too much cut off (just a trim continually fell on deaf ears), coming out of lockdown is definitely not a great time to find a new one!
So why do feel the need to count down?
There are psychological benefits to counting down or looking forward. It makes it easier to get through rough, frustrating, and annoying times. It can also give us hope and optimism as we are imagining a new potential future with good times and less challenge instead of what seems a bit of a depressing today or tomorrow.
However, doesn’t this appear to go against the practice of mindfulness which is all about living in the present moment and being grateful for what we have right now? Well yes BUT nobody could predict the mental effects of a pandemic so surely anything that works to get us through it is worth doing! Psychotherapists have commented recently that staying in the now is a good tool but not necessarily all the time. Otherwise we would miss out on the joy of reflection and anticipation.
I don’t think we should beat ourselves up for wishing our lives away a bit more than usual because this year is just not normal.
