Leaving my therapist last session she told me I should look into what a “low demand lifestyle” was. My first thought was “f u, no???” and my second thought was “okay but how do I actually incorporate these things?”
I would be grateful to hear how folks of all support need levels have incorporated this concept into their lives.
In my particular situation I have a huge amount of autonomy in my life so most of my struggles are from self demands. It’s a lot easier for me to act on demands from others (so long as I agree they are good demands, things that make sense or that I don’t really care about but care about the person asking so I can do it without too much resistance).
Different strokes for different folks.
Glad that’s working for you.
All those alarms and plans (and (perhaps also) the routines) would increase demand to me, causing a neuro traffic jam, grinding me to a halt in stress.
But the thing is, we all have routines as far as I know. Like what order we but on our clothes, or if we brush our teeth before or after that etc. All those things are routines. It doesn’t mean I have lists and steps for everything. It’s more that I block out rough time frames. Like, making and eating dinner usually takes around 1h 45min, so I plan for 2h to have some wiggle-room. Then I can move it around as much as I like, when needed. No problem. It’s also a gradual thing. I didn’t start with everything :)
But yeah, a few years ago, this would have felt super stressful for me too !
Yep. I was long time seeing advice from Ayurveda that, for my vata dosha, routines would really do me good, and I’d recoil from that, seeing routines only as those imposed (as demands) on me. Little did I realise I had indeed formed many routines of my own. (Hence why that was in brackets with a “perhaps”).
I’m still mid-transition to accepting it. :) Making progress. Eliminating that stressor born of that conflation and negativity tainted perception.
aah I see, thanks for clarifying :)
I’m glad you are making progress!