The Hyperactive Girl's Reason to Practice Meditation

Meditation used to be the most boring-sounding activity I had ever heard of. I mean, how is that even an activity if you are just sitting there with your eyes closed? More like lazy-excuse alert! I remember when my mom started making my 5-year-old brother sit still to meditate for 15 minutes at a time, I felt like she was just cruel. Making a borderline ADHD kid (who cannot even stop talking for a minute) sit still for a whole quarter of an hour was just cray-cray. Even now I still admire him for the ability to actually live up to her request.

Hyperactive Meditation Master

The thing is, I am pretty sure our inability to shut up runs in the family. If you know me, you would understand my need to constantly break the silence with the most random (and quite honestly, inappropriate) information ever, like "I need to poop", or "hey I saw a dead fly!" It works out fine for my brother because he is five, and everybody thinks a kid who keeps asking "curious" questions is smart. But when it comes to a 20-year-old who cannot stop oversharing, we have a problem.

The breaking point was on my 20th birthday when I realized that even though I had been on this planet for only two decades, I had been through more than a dozen of diets, had no sense of self, no discipline, and no composure. While I saw my friends walking around lady-like, I would look like a sloth most of the time in my sweat pants and sweatshirts because I just couldn't bring myself to put the effort in to look good!   Also, the funny thing about turning twenty is that you feel like you need to start adulting, and at that point, I felt like anything BUT an adult. "Something's gotta give!", I thought. After contemplating (more like googling around), I decided that the first adult thing I wanted to work on was to get my ducks in a row and get my self-discipline together.

Like I said, adulting

As a book lover, I decided to turn to self-help options ("There's a book for that!" is my mantra). The first one that caught my eyes was "The Willpower Instinct" by Kelly McGonial. It is a great resource for sloths like me who really need a prep talk about why I can't stop procrastinating; I would recommend it to anybody who wants a dose of self-control. However, to be utterly honest, I haven't finished everything in the book yet (so I guess I haven't made THAT much progress). Regardless, I got a lot of tips and tricks I could resonate with from the parts I did read, and the most important one is definitely meditation. If you are completely sure that meditation is not for you, then you should read the book yourself to learn about her other advices. They are all very effective for me!

Anyway, I choose to talk about meditation out of all the recommendations I got because I feel like I get far more than what I had hoped. It honestly affects most parts of my life, even the ones I did not know I was working to improve! For example, I used to struggle with impulsive eating. I would see a plate of cookies, and the next thing I knew, I had downed half of them and was grabbing the other half for later. The whole process from seeing the cookies to putting them in my mouth, I had absolutely no control over. It didn't matter that I am mildly carb intolerant or the fact that I knew how bad refined carbs were to my body, I just ignored it. The pain only came later when I was laying on my bed with a bloated belly. Only then did I realize what a stupid mistake I'd made. And to be honest, it would have been ok if it only happened once in awhile, but it was just not the case. I made that mistake constantly, and I made the same one every time. 

I am not kidding when I say I eat a whole plate of cookies, I finished these babies. 

The whole idea about mindfulness meditation is to be intentional and mindful about your presence. You need to observe your physical senses and emotions in a non-judgmental light, and gently guide your focus back to your body when you get distracted. It sounds simple, but the practice fundamentally changes the way you look at everyday life. To me, it is mainly about the ability to stop and remember my own intention during a task that I am most interested in, and that's exactly where I have seen the most improvement. Lately, I've been catching myself stop and think before I pick up some junk food to put in my mouth, and, therefore could remind myself of my main goal: to eat wholesomely and feel healthy. I am also more focused on my work (even though procrastination still lurks around the corner and prey on me whenever I let my guards down,)  and I am more intentional in my everyday tasks. All of these results came from a short 3 months of practicing, so imagine the self-composure I'd have once I master the skills!

Even though I dream about "that one day" a lot, I try to keep in mind the heart of meditation: it is about the journey, not the destination. I focus more on the joy and pride I get when I go on a long streak of meditating every day, and feel sad when I slip and forget. Focusing on these small details keeps me more grounded and consistent, as good things don't normally come overnight! I will keep practicing, keep breathing deeply, and I will see where this journey takes me!

That's my experience with meditation, what is yours? Let me know in the comment section below, and also, if you'd like me to share some apps/tools I use to ease into the practice!

Credit: My wonderfully talented friend Linh Chun and my horrible Photoshop skill

Happy deep-breathing! <3