30 Days of Gratitude: Day 22

Practice pausing.

Instructions: Today, whenever you’re waiting for something, resist the urge to pull out your phone to fill the time. Instead, practice pausing: take several deep, mindful breaths, allowing yourself to feel what it’s like to fully inhale.

I had a cleaning appointment, at the dentist, today. I arrived a little early and sat down in the lobby after checking in. My immediate instinct was to spend the time on my phone yet, I resisted.

The mindful breaths helped ease some of the anxiety I had around spending the next hour while a stranger (new dentist and hygienist) poked their fingers and primitive looking tools around my mouth. It also helped me relax in preparation for the weekend, as even though I didn't have any specific tasks hanging over me, I was still thinking about all of the things that "need to be done".

Those things will be there on Monday. For now, in this moment, I just breathed.

---

The “30 Days of Gratitude challenge” prompts are from Screen/Life Balance and author Catherine Price.