Taking a mental timeout
“Taking time to do nothing often brings everything into perspective.”
- Zoe Zantamata
Timeouts in sports help teams regroup and put together a game plan to execute. Timeouts for toddlers give them an opportunity to hopefully reflect on what they have done. Timeouts, no matter what their purpose, can be helpful to check in with ourselves and briefly check out of whatever it was we were in the middle of doing. We should allow ourselves to take timeouts when we need them, whether we are at work or at home. Personal timeouts can be a great way to address or deescalate a situation where we are feeling overwhelmed or out of sorts.
Our emotions can be powerful and cause us to do some irrational things in the moment that, in hindsight, could have been avoided if we had not allowed our emotions to get the best of us. Sometimes our emotions can suddenly strike us with fear and anxiety when we least expect it. It’s in moments like these where we can benefit from mental check-ins with ourselves. It can provide a quick reset, like Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but for our minds. Even if time is at a premium, just a couple minutes can work wonders for our mental health.
It’s imperative to have no distractions during the timeout. A few great activities to maximize the timeout include breathing techniques, guided mediations, reciting mantras or…
