Life has sped up. We’re working on more, we’re inching towards New Blood and any ‘time off’ gets spent thinking about proactive stuff. It can be dizzying.

There are lots of techniques for centering the mind, managing time and for self-care to maintain productivity. And they’re great, they work when you do them. But I don’t do them consistently enough. Why don’t I do them?

For me, they can feel like a chore amidst a busy day, ‘another thing on the to-do list’. Time is precious and often nonstop. In those moments where a million thoughts are rushing at me, I need respite and I need it to not require more work. I also first need to write them all down in my jazzy notebook.

Until recently, I haven’t been sure of what ticks those boxes, that I can reach for within the confines of my bedroom or POP.

So, I realised, it’s not about being confined. I need to counteract the feeling with an opposing force. So I’ve begun taking myself to places that do just that.

And I reckon I’ve cracked a solution. Something I found in my pursuit to get outside more that didn’t require going for a jog or walking at great length is star-gazing and sitting in parks. Both very easy to do and passive but both connect me to something outside of the flurry of brands, business and strategy.

I don’t often look up at the sky, if it’s not my laptop it’s the ground, checking to see I’m not stepping on any dog crap. But I find these two activities to instantly ease my mind, particularly at night. I like the still, magical feeling of the night. There’s something about looking up at a grey ball casually hovering in space or a cluster of glittering stars that instantly inspires me, taking me into a space of wonder and curiosity.

In a world of reason and logic and aversion to the mystical, the sight of hovering planets is an instant reminder that baffling things do and can exist. It reminds me to think bigger.

Similarly in parks, there’s something about bathing in a natural space. I find too much time spent around high-rise buildings and the colour grey makes me inadvertently feel and think that way. Nature is so intelligent and what we see around us today has survived centuries of evolution.

Contemplating this grounds me also pretty instantly and inspires me to create connections I otherwise wouldn’t have sat squirreled away indoors.

I guess I can’t shake being a hippy.

But it’s all individual in the end, we’re taught often to find what works for us. With increased workload and pressure, there’s never been a more important time to.