The Best Ways Out of the Web

I'm a thinker. I love people and I love the real world, but wow — there's a universe inside that I can get lost in.

The other morning I started feeling overwhelmed with problems that needed solving, and so as I sat down to journal, I began with the line, “Definitely one of those mornings in the web.” What I meant was this mental picture of me being stuck in the middle of a big spider's web, but each strand of the web is a different idea or problem or source of pressure that I was experiencing at that time.

Can you relate to this idea of the web?

In these kinds of situations, it's really easy to do maladaptive things, like:

• Aimless phone or web use
• Check email 100x per minute
• Get a stomachache

The best ways out of the web, I find, are simple:

• Write it out — if you're a praying person, write it out as a prayer if you want; if there's a certain person in your life you go to for wisdom or clarity, pretend you are writing a letter to them.
• Walk it out — and when you walk, take no tech or noise or distraction, just walk.

In my experience, even 10 minutes of either of these practices can make the web all but disappear.

If you're caught in the web right now, give one of them a try.

Best,
DSJR