We just passed the second weekend of the quarantine and the first weekend since The House of Conrad passed the No Blahh Bill which is explained here: The Quarantine Times 1 – Allow me to explain “Blahh”. I want to dive into the effect of taking out blahh during the workweek, then allowing it back in during the weekend? Did I notice a difference? Was I happy it was finally the weekend so I could have back some blahh? I will discuss this all right now.
Here’s a brief recap. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been forcing myself to go without blahh until 6pm. Blahh is the term I came up with for social media, YouTube, Netflix, etc. You get the idea. It’s anything when my brain goes, “blahh” when I am tuned in. There is minimal brain activity and I start to feel like a zombie. I assigned this goal to myself because during the first week of the quarantine, I found myself extremely lazy and not coping well with the unlimited freedom to any blahh without consequences. I abused that freedom just like an alcoholic can abuse a wonderful beer. Moderation is really the key here. Forcing myself to resist during the day and then allowing myself a little blahh before bed. So far, I’ve really enjoyed it. And it is not as difficult as one may seem. It is even better from a productivity standpoint. I get way more work down personally and professionally. I also feel great and my mind is active with ideas. I think of it as I’m getting less external stimulation from all the blahh that my mind has to make its own stimulation which is thoughts and ideas. I know it may sound silly, but that’s exactly how it feels and I’d be lying if I said otherwise. However, these rules only apply during the workweek. What happened when I allowed myself unlimited freedom again over the blahh?
Last weekend was slow. There I said it. Thanks to this quarantine and a rainy two days, there simply was practically nothing to do outside other than walk. And even then you’d have to find a window when it wasn’t raining to do so. As a result, it was boring. I allowed myself unlimited blahh. Saturday was the worse of the two since I watched a movie or two, caught up on some YouTube clips that I follow and browsed social media. There was no question that I was back I the blahh state. And I sort of realized this before the day even started. What was it like going back into blahh state? It was like I was unhappy with where I was but didn’t want to mustard up the energy to change it. I wanted to get up and be active but the change from going from my couch to doing something physical was too much to bare. That’s the reason why I took out blahh in the first place. That is what it does to you. It turns off the motivational part of your brain and leaves you stuck in an unhappy place. During the week when I took out the blahh, it was easy to transition to stretching or pushups or running or readying or writing. However, with all the blahh I was consuming on Saturday, these simple activities felt like I was committing to a marathon.
Sunday was a little different. Before I went to bed on Saturday night, I did a little reflection on my motionless Saturday and told myself I can’t have another day like that. It was awful. I actually opened my work laptop up just to get a glimpse of a feeling of being productive. Although I really wasn’t. I was in need of some structure. It felt like I was in a dull pain but didn’t want to man up and change it. So Saturday I didn’t consume as much blahh. I did, but I got a workout in and got outside a bit. That alone made a huge difference in my day. On the other hand, I was still looking forward to getting back to the workweek routine and the “to do’s” I set out for myself every day. I was looking forward to that structure, to writing things down and knocking them off my checklist. Late on Sunday, I mapped out my week and what I wanted to accomplish each day and was looking forward to being motivated again in a blahh free state.
On Monday morning I was excited. It didn’t come until around 10am when I had about two hours of resisting blahh. It’s almost as if resisting blahh gives me more power. Maybe it shows myself how discipline I am and if I could be discipline with this, I could be discipline in other areas. I went for a run almost immediately and finished up the rest of my goals I set out for that day as the day went on and it felt great again. My mind was active and I was thinking in creative ways. I was productive with work and could simply think more clearly. Looking back on the weekend filled with blahh, I didn’t even enjoy the blahh. I thought I would have enjoyed it more, especially going without it for so long. However, when I was actually laying down scrolling through social media, I felt a little gross. It didn’t feel good. I used to be convinced that this was a guilty pleasure. Now I’m thinking it’s just a guilty discomfort. Taking the pleasure out of the blahh is a great sign. If I don’t gravitate towards the blahh in the first place, then it would seem like I’m forming new habits. If this is true, then my goal of this whole exercise is becoming more and more reachable. There is a direct correlation of less blahh resulting in an improvement in my overall quality of life.
Dabbl 