Friday Musings—Finding your voice

What's new with me

I'm nearing the end of week two of the brain rot antidotes challenge. So far, so good. I’ve only looked at my phone early in the morning or late at night a couple of times, which means the habit is starting to stick.

That said, I still reach for my phone way more than I’d like during the day. My average daily screen time this week is 1 hour and 40 minutes, down from my usual 2+ hours. I also started tracking my daily phone pickups—something I’d never paid attention to before—and found that I reach for my phone 46 times a day. That sounds crazy to me! But based on what I found online, it's actually on the lower end (various sources mention averages ranging from 58 to 150+ pickups per day, with some users hitting 200 or even 300+).

There’s been a noticeable decrease in my social media use, which is great, but I still default to opening Instagram or Facebook when I’m bored or on a break. At least I now catch myself slipping into the endless scroll and stop, but the equation taking a break = checking social media needs to go. What I should be doing instead is staring out the window or some other Niksen-inspired activity 🙂

Speaking out

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always struggled to speak up and express what I really think and feel—especially when it comes to family. That’s just how I was raised: repressing my voice. Even though therapy helped me work through this last year, breaking the pattern is hard.

These past couple of weeks, a family-related issue forced me to finally confront something I could no longer ignore. The other day, I managed to get a lot off my chest, but it’s been incredibly stressful, and my sleep has taken a hit. There’s definitely room for growth here.

Are any of you naturally assertive? If so, how did you get there? I’d love some advice.

New style?

You may have noticed my last two blog posts looked a little different. When writing deeper dives, I usually go for long-form posts with no extra formatting (beyond breaking things up into paragraphs). But these past two weeks, I experimented with sub-headers and bullet points to make the text easier to follow or scan.

People say long-form is a gamble these days since attention spans are shrinking. But personally, I love reading long-form, and I always figured that if someone was interested, they’d read the post; if not, they’d just move on. That said, I’m not writing in a void, and your feedback means a lot to me.

So, what do you think?

• Do you prefer this new format?
• Did you like the previous style better?
• Or does it not make much of a difference?

Physiotherapists know best

Maybe it’s all the stress, but I’ve been dealing with lots of small aches and pains lately. It made me revisit this article I read a few months ago about six small daily habits that physiotherapists warn against.

When I first read it, I found points 1 and 4 really useful, but over time I slipped back into old patterns. Let me know if any of these habits resonate with you!

Quote of the week ✍️ 

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."  (Anne Lamott)

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Which musing resonated with you the most? Are there any topics you’d like me to explore in future newsletters? If you have any suggestions or insights, feel free to share them in the comments.

Also, I'm offering free mindful chats—a safe space for you to be heard and for me to connect and better understand how I can create content that truly resonates. If that sounds like something you'd enjoy, let’s chat.

If you know someone who might enjoy these musings or benefit from a mindful chat, please pass this along. I’d love to grow this community (and, let’s be honest, I’m not great at self-promotion!).

Enjoy your weekend, and talk soon.

ML