Right now, we all have all the time in the world to do all the things we’ve always wanted to do. Like make cooking videos, write posts about productivity, and build toilet paper forts. But with all that time comes all the pressure to do those things. We’ve run out of excuses.
in fact, there’s so much pressure to produce content/achieve greatness, that there’s a second wave of people letting us know that we don’t have to give in to the pressure. You’re enough as you are, and you don’t need to prove anything with your latest TikTok.
But pressure isn’t that simple to turn off. I appreciate the sentiment behind taking it easy, but that’s not going to stop my brain from calling me a lazy piece of shit. Or even worse, saying something mean. For many of us, we can’t just turn off that drive to improve, grow, be better — or at least think about doing those things.
So here’s a little life hack to help you take some time off, while still feeling like you’re achieving something. I present you…
How to watch Netflix and not feel like you’re a useless waste of a life
Here’s what I do:
Start watching Netflix.
Start to feel guilt, like I’m wasting my life and should be doing something productive.
Keep watching Netflix, but with a nagging voice in my head. Both battling for my attention.
The voice wins. Always.
Okay, let’s do something productive. To me, productive is working on my mental health. If I’m feeling anxious, and I do something to feel less anxious, that’s a huge achievement. A win so big, it’d earn me some Netflix time.
Am I saying do something like meditate, or read self-help books? Nope, still Netflix. ‘Cause here’s the trick:
If you wanna achieve less anxiety, achieve more joy.
Simple, I know. Angeringly simple to anyone with anxiety, but hear me out.
Every second I laugh, I don’t feel anxious. Any moment I feel joy, I’m pushing anxiety into the background, ‘cause joy has my attention right now.
But what sucks for us anxious-types is, on those rare times when we’re able to feel joy, it’s only a fleeting moment, and then anxiety comes back.
So here’s what you need to do. Be vigilant with joy. Force joy into your life. If anxiety comes back, you hit it again with laughter and joy.
And you can do it by watching something on Netflix that makes you laugh.
Then you’re doing something productive. You’re working on your mental health!
The one caveat is you have to enjoy what you’re watching. Sure, Tiger King is popular. But does it really make you feel joy and laughter?
Watch something that makes you feel good. The Good Life, Love, Queer Eye… I’ll stop telling you what to enjoy.
When your brain pipes up and says you should be doing something productive, tell your brain that by bringing joy into your life you’re feeling less anxious, and that’s a huge step towards a calmer, happier mind.
And your brain will be like, “That's all I needed to hear, let’s binge, baby!”