To Zoom or Not to Zoom
In this time of widespread panic, people have been turning to different vices to feel more secure about their health and their future. For this reason, I decided to devote today’s free write to talk about what I do when I am feeling overwhelmed by forces that are virtually out of my control.
At this point everyone has heard of Zoom. Whether you use it for meetings that could’ve been emails, virtual happy hours, or celebrating your cousins graduation, Zoom has probably become a big part of your life.
Don’t worry, I am not going to spend an entire page talking about Zoom meetings. Instead, I am going to teach you a new kind of zoom, a method that I have used to be more mindful by zooming in or out in order to shift my focus.
I started practicing this method back in middle school, unintentionally, but honed in as I got older.
Here is how it works:
Zooming Out:
On a day when I am feeling incredibly overwhelmed by the tasks on my plate, a day where it seems like my responsibilities are overflowing from my planner, a day where there is not a single thing I can do to calm down my workflow, I do my best not to press pause, but to zoom out.
I imagine myself spinning a wheel on a microscope to the left or pinching my forefinger and thumb together on the screen that is my life, zooming out. I shift my perspective from the tasks at hand to the greater vision of life itself.
I shift my perspective to focus on my surroundings, and everything under the sun that is not my day to day work, anything that is not right in front of me. I visualize my trip to the beach this summer, waves crashing on my feet as I run through the surf. I visualize anything that is not right here.
By shifting my focus, I am able to silence the noise in my head that is stopping me from completing the task at hand. This helps me be more mindful with my intentions so that I am able to get through my workload.
Zooming In:
On days where everything around me seems to be suffocating, I use my Zoom method.
This method can be used when you feel stuck in time and drowned in existential thoughts. Breath in existential thoughts like a wave and breathe them right back out, like the tide. Create space in your mind for new, less clouding thoughts. After several deep breaths, begin to zoom in, hone in on the specifics.
This time, instead of turning the dial to the left, or zooming out, imagine yourself turning the dial right, spreading your forefinger and thumb apart, zooming in.
Instead of worrying about what it is you are supposed to be doing for the rest of your life, focus on what you are going to make for dinner. How is that food going to savor in your mouth? Zoom in even more and focus on how your shirt feels on your shoulders, is it soft? Clean? Focus on what you will be doing tomorrow, not ten years from now.
Remember that things will fall into place if you take the steps every single day to move forward and not get tied down by thoughts that make you feel stuck. Sometimes all you need is a shift in perspective to get out of a sticky spot.
