When we feel weary, it can feel like a massive challenge to just get through the day. And it’s no surprise because lack of sleep slows down our thought processes, reaction time, impairs memory, and can have a drastic effect on our mental health and mood.
As someone who suffered for many years with insomnia, I know this all too well. Remember you’re not alone in this struggle. According to the Sleep Foundation up to 48% of adults struggle from sleeping issues. But this article is not about how to tackle insomnia, I have a post dedicated to that here.
This article is about how to manage those days after having a poor night’s rest. These are mindfulness actions for tiredness to help you change your mindset. This is what works well for me when I still get those occasional days where it’s easy to feel fed up and frustrated.
Don’t Dwell
Our thoughts are powerful little pests, crying out for our attention all day long. When we’re sleep deprived, we feel tired, irritable, moody, and with low energy. It’s even easier to let our thoughts get the best of us.
A common trap people fall into is to dwell on it. We can feel sorry for ourselves and start mentally complaining about how bad we feel, how challenging the day is going to be, and how difficult it will be to get stuff done.
You’re already suffering from the lack of sleep, why make it worse for yourself? It’s not easy to do, but by practicing mindfulness you can develop your self-awareness and train yourself to catch those self-destructive thoughts quicker, before they sabotage your whole day.
Meditate
Meditation of course helps to bring awareness to our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. That way we can learn to observe what is going on without it subconsciously taking us over. This can help us to find balance and be less reactive, impulsive, and consumed by negativity.
With a clearer mind, we can make better choices and decisions. Rather than getting stuck in thought loops and compulsive thinking, which really gets us nowhere. Meditation can be challenging at times but that’s all a part of the practice and it’s how we retrain our brain over time.
Commit to a Choice
During these kinds of days where you’re struggling to have energy and focus, you really only have 3 choices. 1) Dwell on the situation and cause yourself more suffering, which we have already established is not a good choice. 2) Push through the tiredness, take action by being active and productive. 3) Take a day off, rest, relax, and do something enjoyable.
The worst thing you can do is spend the day being indecisive. Going back and forth between ‘I don’t feel great’, ‘what will I do’, ‘I should… but I can’t be bothered’, ‘I’ll just stay at home, but I really should…’.
You get idea, it’s easy to get stuck in these mind patterns, but they’re pointless. You know it would be better to be productive rather than lazy, but it’s hard to take the first step. And if you don’t then you feel guilty staying at home and doing nothing.
So, commit to a choice. Don’t waste the day hesitating and procrastinating. Let’s look at these choices in more detail then.
Take Action
know when you’re tried, the last thing you feel like doing is to take action. Most likely you just want to sit at home on the sofa or take a nap. This is counterproductive though. It will make you feel even more sluggish and lazy.
Your mind and body need stimulation when they’re tired. Start with movement. You’d be surprised but pushing yourself to do some exercise will rejuvenate you. Go swimming, running, workout in the gym, or just take a walk.
It will get the blood flowing and release endorphins, helping you to feel energised and happy. By then your mind will be ready to work on whatever you desire. Whether it’s for your career, studies, business, or any other personal goals that you consider important.
Need help to get motivated? Check out my article Mindfulness Actions for Motivation.
Take a Day Off
So, you haven’t been dwelling right? Ok, good good. And you decided that you just can’t take action today? You’re too exhausted. Are you sure? Ok, no problem. Well best to commit to this choice then, take a day off, and do something enjoyable., relax
We live busy, hectic lives. Its ok to just switch off every now and then. Recover and rest. You can go back to getting after it tomorrow. What do you like to do for fun and enjoyment? Watch a TV series, listen to music, learn a new hobby, read, play video games?
No matter what it is, enjoy it, be utterly present with it and relish every moment.
Be Kind to Yourself
Struggling with lack of sleep is hard going. No matter what you decide to do, be kind and patient with yourself. You’ll have less energy, will likely be more irritable, moody, and could find it harder to focus and concentrate. You may even feel emotional, hopeless, or sad. Be mindful of this, it’s completely normal.
If you decided to commit to take action, remember to take breaks regularly and congratulate yourself for making the effort. It’s no easy feat pushing yourself get through the day after a bad night’s sleep. After being productive, then treat yourself. Have a bath, a nice meal, or watch a favourite movie.
And if you really attempted to be proactive but just couldn’t get into the mindset, that’s ok too. At least you tried. Well done for giving it your best! Adapt and have a day of rest.
If you committed to taking a day off, don’t feel guilty or regretful about having a lazy day, go into it fully. Tell yourself that you deserve this. You do. Our saving grace is that there is always tomorrow.
You Can Manage Tiredness
I hope that these mindfulness actions for tiredness will make you realise that you can manage it. Ultimately, being kind and patient with yourself whilst committing to a choice can help a lot. The worst thing you can do is to torment yourself with feelings of guilt, indecision, and procrastination.
Like anything, it will take time to develop this approach and develop a new mindset. But once you work on it, you can prevent these from becoming write offs and turn them into something positive, either through productivity or relaxation.
Did you find this article helpful? How do you manage tiredness? Let me know in the comments.
Take care of yourselves,
Chris from Mindfulness Actions
