How To One-Up A Bad Morning.
Remember the mushrooms Super Mario consumes along the way?
I woke this morning feeling like a cunt. Meaning, I didn’t want to get out of bed. My mind is fogged. And while there are many active thoughts about the work to be done — I couldn’t think with clarity. I figured that weather played a part since it has been raining a lot recently and the cooler weather made me sluggish.
I figured that my fingers could do some work while my body refuses to budge. I reached for my smartphone and started checking, replying, and writing some emails. Along the way, some meeting invitations were accepted, many were rejected.
Then just so out of the blue, Super Mario Bros came into my mind. There is this vivid imagery of him eating mushrooms. The more he ate, the stronger he became. The strange thing is, as he ate more mushrooms, stronger opponents started crossing his path.
As I imagined myself being Super Mario, I thought I was going to die. After all, how am I supposed to survive going against stronger adversaries that keep coming?
I slapped my face and decided that enough is enough. It is time to get up.
I couldn’t stop thinking about mushrooms over morning coffee. And to be very honest, it is not about the mushrooms. It is about the uncanny ability to one-up a bad morning. How can we turn things around? And fast.
Pretty fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, I do have so many bad days that I have enough tricks in my bag.
Okay, just for consistency in this story, replace “tricks” in my previous paragraph with “mushrooms”.
Mushroom # 1 — Think “Fast”
The best way to break out of the sluggish mode is to go fast. It takes high inertia at the very beginning, and things will smooth out from there.
I like to get to spaces with high human traffic, such as the train stations. Seeing and brushing past people rushing for work keeps the tempo up. When everyone around you moves in double quick time, we move in double-quick time.
Mushroom # 2 — Think “Out”
When we feel that we are not moving in the home environment — remember. We respond to our environments. The fastest way to get out. At least for a brief moment.
Apart from the train stations, I enjoy heading to the neighborhood parks for a morning walk. I adjust my walking speed depending on how I am feeling that morning. When it comes to the parks, I don’t rush. I slow down to allow Gaia to nurture me through the love manifested within nature.
Mushroom # 3 — Think “Shots”
I do not always have the luxury to head out. There are days where I am up just in time for the next conference call. In times like this, “shots” will be trick.
No, it doesn’t just mean coffee shots. I refer to “shots in the arm”.
We are humans, and humans need anchors. A cup of coffee in the morning is a shot of caffeine as well as an emotional uplift for the start of the day. That works for me.
Fast tempo foreign music works for me as well. My body responds to music when it hears it. My fingers will start tapping rhythmically on the table.
A Word of Caution — Watch the Mushrooms You Eat.
A Word of Warning: Context is everything. I listen to high-speed tracks when I want to type fast. When I want to get inspiration from my mind, I listen to classical. It is important to find out what works uniquely for you.
In brief, different mushrooms solve different problems.
Mario Has Finally Arrived At The End Of The Pipe …
There will come a time where Super Mario will finally reach the end of the tunnel.
He has to eat enough mushrooms along the way to combat adversaries, find a dinosaur pet, and save the princess.
Just like us.
We have to find our way to inject meaning, fulfillment through daily productivity.
And sometimes, the trick is to find mushrooms we can eat along the way.
Happy Mushroom-Hunting,
Aldric
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