On Doom-scrolling, Exercise, & Vacuuming

I think a lot of us in the US have probably been sucked into “doom-scrolling” over the past two weeks (doomscrolling? doom scrolling? I’m too lazy to look up the correct usage, sorry). I think it’s natural to want to be “in the know” when things are changing very rapidly, and not necessarily for the better (depending on your point of view). Normally I can avoid it, but as the saying goes, my desire to stay informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane – or something like that.

However, my sanity is slowly winning the battle (thank goodness – it was touch & go for awhile there), and I’m forcing myself to spend less time scrolling and more time in other pursuits – namely being more active, playing more games, crafting, reading & writing. I do feel like it’s very important to stay up on what’s happening in our national politics at the moment, moreso than ever due to the high stakes at hand.

But I’m seriously limiting my time to do so – when I open FB these days, I set a timer on my watch for 10 minutes, and I need to close the app after that, unless I’m engaged with a non-political post (puzzles! puppies! latch hook! plants!), in which case I can extend the time in 10 minute increments. I do this on my watch so it’s a physical (vibrating) alarm on my wrist that requires me to physically *move* to either extend or turn off, rather than just being able to tap a spot on my phone to dismiss. Sort of a “jolt” out of that zombie-scrolling motion it’s so easy to get lulled into.

I’m also replacing some of the times I’d normally check FB with games instead. Instead of opening up FB right after checking my email in the morning, I’ll open up Animal Crossing or another game that’s easy to jump in and out of, and play for a few minutes. Sort of re-training my brain to reach for the “feel good” things first, rather than the trainwrecky things that are just going to kick my adrenaline up.

I’ve been doing a lot of stairs lately (up to the 8th floor at work from my office on 3rd twice a day), and started weight lifting again last night. Exercising is a great way to get that dopamine hit (walking the dogs is great & I’m doing that too, but it’s cold, so hard to get a good long walk in at the moment), and I really need to lose some weight, which weight training will help a lot with. Treadmill, rebounding…all of that helps keep the blood flowing and clears the head, in my case, anyways. And yoga every morning, as usual.

As for the vacuum cleaner story I teased last week…I’ve had to vacuum a lot lately due to some health issues Athena-dog has been having (which I think are finally clearing up). This has led to various forms of vacuum cleaner abuse, mostly because between myself and the dogs, there’s a lot of hair to be picked up on a regular basis, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you clean a vacuum out…it just gives up. The most recent one, however, was entirely my fault.

Sparing you the entire long story, I was trying to plug a cheap vacuum into a GFCI outlet which I installed myself, and didn’t secure the metal frame plate to the wall (as I said, long story). As I was trying to force the plug into the receptacle late one night (yes, I know, seriously – no lectures needed), the metal frame fell onto the metal plugs just as it was finally going in. Sparks ensued, and both the plug and face plate now have matching notches removed from the metal of each. Needless to say, I tossed that vacuum out as well, and given the recent string of failed vacuums, that left me with only one choice: A very old, heavy Electrolux that has been sitting in the basement unused for nearly 20 years (the white handle is literally yellowed).

I really needed to vacuum the floor at that point, so I dragged that old vacuum all the way upstairs, plugged it in, blew a breaker (Our electrical isn’t great, obviously), and finally plugged it into another outlet where it *worked*! Huzzah! And it’s continued to work, albeit squealing a bit. I’m sure the belts are pretty dry after all this time, but considering it works and works pretty well, I will be looking for a replacement belt, and I’ll use it until it dies, just because I don’t want to buy another new vacuum.

I’ll admit, now I’m curious as to why I stopped using it in the first place. It is very heavy, though, so I think vacuuming now counts as both general movement *and* weight training. Love those twofers!

How much I’m writing lately is pretty much a direct result of how much I can manage my stress levels. More exercise/crafts & less news equals more writing, so I’m definitely trying to keep that ratio going. I did get a few scenes written this week, which made me feel very accomplished.

Next week, more of the same, and hopefully both my scale and my word count will keep moving in the right respective directions.

Until then…if you can, scroll less & move more!


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