Mental Hygiene

What my optimistic, no-tech friend reminded me about protecting my mind.

I teased a friend this week about why I was continuing to work and hoped to continue working into my seventies. In an email, I wrote, ”And the job is hanging on, maybe for several more years, just to keep me with something to do. Ken Guidroz, left to his own devices, is a scary proposition. He should not be left with time on his hands. He should not be left unattended. He should not have unallocated time in which to let his mind start to warp into circles, turning in on itself, devouring itself, ingesting itself, wormholing on itself, then regurgitating itself, only to end up with a rehashed and churned up brain. You don’t want that brother ... trust me.”

I was half-joking. But half not joking. I can wormhole with the best of them.

But then he responded with an interesting take. “It’s funny ... I’m pretty ok being in my own mind. I do a lot of hiking and solo fishing. I don’t use any tech...no music or podcasts...I just mull over things, events and situations in my life. Unlike when I was in CA, I have become a positive, optimistic guy. Who would have thought???”

My first thought was, not me. I would have never imagined the insightful but persnickety, cynical, grumpy guy he was in CA would become a positive, optimistic guy. Good for him! No tech. His own thoughts. Outdoors. And he became that guy. He emailed me later and talked of how important boredom was and letting the mind go where the mind wanted to go.

Here is a guy thinking on his own, noticing what works for him, bunking conventional trends, and enjoying his share of mental hygiene. Amen! It reminded me of my own commitment to a clean mind, a confident mind, a self-aware mind (yes, I see the paradox in that), a buoyant mind, and a clean mind (and yes, for a second time). I want a hygienic mind. For me…

News? No news. What I need to know will find me.

Commercials? No commercials.

Gossip and negativity and drama-magnets? Not going to join in.

Toxic people? Cut out. If family, clear boundaries.

Extremism? Not interested.

Tech? Only when I choose it—no notifications, no Amber Alert, no weather warnings, no sky-is-falling alarms. Tech will serve me and I will not bow down to it. (And this was my friend’s approach: carefully-chosen tech.)

I will continue with my alone time.

Time in the mountains? Yes.

Time at the beach? Yes.

Walking and walking and walking? Yes.

Fishing? No—I suck at fishing (I’m the guy who goes ‘0’ at a fish pond).

And yes, I teased at having a wormhole for a brain—I can turn in on myself with lightening speed. But I’ve gotten better at the alone thing. I wormhole much less. I stop myself more quickly. I stay in healthy-thought territory most of the time.

So, to my dear old friend who I emailed with this week, Amen to your mental hygiene. Amen that you have become a positive, optimistic guy—in your sixties, no less. I respect that. I want to be that. And Amen that you attribute it to no tech, or, carefully-chosen tech.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

I absolutely think it’s a correlation.