What Are Your Neglecticles?
Are you choosing to live in the future, neglecting the present moment?
It’s Tree Langdon from Medium and Linked In.
Here’s A New Word, An Idea, and A Question.
A New Word
This is where I share a word that really should exist, one that should be in the dictionary.
Neglecticle
: A neglecticle describes anything that suffers from neglect.
// A neglecticle is an article of clothing that looks so good on the hanger, but for whatever reason (maybe you don't even know), you never put it on. It just hangs there, in your wardrobe, day after forlorn day, looking as perfect as the day you brought it home from the store. You feel sorry for it.
Sometimes you clean out your old clothes, and you take out the neglecticle and freshen it up, rehanging it somewhere more prominent so that this time, you'll remember to wear it. But you never do.
When you ignore your formatting or newsletter style, it can be a forlorn little neglecticle.
An Idea
It’s so easy to forget how to live in the moment. We focus too much on our future goals.
Years ago I decided to start running.
I hated it. Most of my run was spent thinking about the end. When would I get there? How much longer did I have to go before I could stop this awful thing that hurt so much?
I asked a good friend, who was a runner, for their advice.
He told me to change how I thought about running. Instead of focusing on the end, I should focus on each step as I was taking it. One step at a time, I would eventually reach my goal.
It completely changed my running experience.
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Recently I’ve slipped back into the bad habit of focusing on the end goal.
When we have the election results.
When the economy gets better.
When the weather gets better.
When we can get back to normal.
The problem with this way of thinking is I am living in the future, not the present.
And things keep shifting, so it’s even more frustrating.
So, I’ve changed my focus.
I’ve decided to think like a marathon runner.
Focus on the step you are taking right now.
A Question
Are there areas in your life where you’re choosing to live in the future?
How can you change your approach and bring yourself into the moment?
How Blue Zone Habits Help You Live Longer (my all-time most popular post)
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This moment is always the best! Love the word... Thanks.
Time blurs easily. Right now - changed twice in the time it took me to write that first sentence. And in that moment I thought of change. Mostly because right now feels awkward, tired. Looking a great deal like a long line of "right nows" that came before it. Is it a problem? It is, if every "right now" is neglected. Allowed to pass by without a second thought. Then not only do we have a closet filled with neglecticles but a life as well. Imagine looking at parts of our life like articles of clothing - nah, don't want that one. No, that's too tight and leaves a mark. Where would that leave us or me for that matter. Thinking - not much going on in here, best to take a nap and wait for it all to pass. That'll make one tired and weary. Neglecticles are reminders. Must change - but how? Maybe it's a as simple as changing how we look and feel about the thing we fear. Just - switch one perspective off, and another on - just like that. I read that somewhere once. Been looking for that switch ever since. Sure it's there. Interesting article, Tree 😊.