This Routine Rewired My Anxious Mind

I’ve always been someone who's prone to anxiety, overthinking and what I like to call a “fast mind” (others call it ADHD).

I’ve never been diagnosed with anxiety or ADHD or anything like that because I’ve never gone to the doctors or psychologist for these issues.

This is because I took it upon myself to get these issues under control when I was a teenager.

I also have a core belief that the doctor can’t help me with these issues.

I’ve seen people in my family go to the doctors for mental health issues and they were prescribed medication which they never got off and never really helped them get better.

It helped them manage symptoms but it never helped them heal the cause of their issues.

When I was a 17 year old teenager, I decided that I didn’t want to go down that path.

I wanted to figure out how to get my mind under control by myself and now I can confidently say that I’ve mastered my mind.

That’s a pretty big statement so what does it mean exactly?

It means:

• I never worry about anxiety anymore.
• I never worry about depression.
• I never worry about going crazy.
• I never worry about addictions.
• I never worry about my emotions.

It doesn't mean I don't experience the highs and lows of life, I do.

It's just that I'm not scared or worried about them anymore.

Back when I was a teenager, I was scared of all these things. 

I was scared that I would have to live my life in a constant state of fear and worry…

Now I have a very high level of confidence when it comes to my mind.

In this post I want to share with you the main thing that helped me, my morning routine.

Morning routines can get a lot of different opinions online.

When it comes to strengthening your mind and building mental fitness, there is nothing that gives you the certainty of feeling better like a consistent morning routine.

Here’s the morning routine that rewired my anxious mind for success in life (I really didn't feel like recording this video today).

The Routine

I started with this simple morning routine back when I was 17, living at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast and I have continued it to this day (I’m 32 at the time of writing this).

My dad always made us do sports so discipline wasn’t too much of a problem for me.

I grew up in Brisbane so the move to the Gold Coast was to get away from a negative lifestyle and bad social environment that I was in.

I knew that if I kept going down the path that I was on as a teenager then mental health issues were only going to get worse.

I had started to research spirituality and ways that I could “master my mind”.

This lead me to a  blog post online which talked about meditation.

Meditation was not something I was familiar with.

No one around me was meditating.

My parents weren’t meditating. 

My friends weren't meditating.

It wasn’t a popular thing to do back in 2010.

But this blog post told me that if I start meditating then I could become a superhero.

That sounded pretty good to me at the time.

So I started going to the beach every morning and meditating in silence for 10 minutes.

I would sit on the sand, cross my legs, set my phone timer for 10 minutes, close my eyes and focus on my breathing.

In the beginning it was weird.

I would hear sounds of kids running or people laughing and freak out thinking they were close to me so I’d open my eyes to check (only to realise they were nowhere near me).

I would worry about snakes coming out of the bushes or people coming up to me and violently attacking me (none of which ever happened).

Internally, I would try to focus on my breathing and focus on being aware of my thoughts but I would always get lost in my thoughts.

I would start thinking about all sorts of random things and then I would get frustrated at myself for losing focus.

I would even get angry at myself sometimes.

During some of my meditations I would spend 99% of the practice thinking about stupid stuff and only 1% of the time I felt like I was actually present.

I didn’t know it at the time but this was the practice that would set me free.

The Learnings

Over time I learned a few things.

• I learned that it was ok to lose focus.
• I learned that it was ok to not be perfect.
• I learned that “I am safe”.
• I learned to trust the world and the people around me.
• I learned to trust myself.
• I learned to be kind to myself (even when I felt frustrated).
• I learned to let go of unwanted thoughts.
• I learned to process my emotions.
• I learned that “I am not my thoughts”.
• I learned to be present.

I learned that I am the ocean of awareness, instead of the waves of thought.

I learned to observe my mind, instead of being consumed by it.

I learned to forgive my past, instead of resenting it.

All of these learnings happened from sitting with myself in silence.

There was nothing fancy or special about my practice.

Like I said, 10 minutes, silent, legs crossed, breathing and focussing.

The only thing that set me apart from others is that I never stopped.

I still meditate to this day (15 years later).

I haven’t meditated every day for the last 15 years but I would say I’ve probably meditated 50% of the days…

And I have tried a lot of other things to support my practice in the last 15 years.

• I’ve gone deep into self development, mindset and healing work.
• I’ve done 1-day retreats, multi-day retreats and silent retreats.
• I’ve explored plant medicine therapeutically (mainly psilocybin)
• I’ve got married and had kids (talk about spiritual practice haha!)

However, to this day, the simple morning routine of meditation has got to be the most powerful foundation for everything else.

I still fall back to that whenever I need some clarity in life.

These days I like to lengthen out the meditations for a bit longer like this morning for example, I meditated for 55 minutes.

Not to prove a point, just to hit the sweet spot.

When I started, 10 minutes was fine.

Over the years, I’ve realised the longer you sit, the deeper you go.

For me it’s not about “how long” you sit for, it’s about “how you feel”  once you’re done.

I’m aiming for a certain kind of vibration these days.

There’s a point you get to where you feel a perfect sense of balance within yourself.

It’s kinda like a real deep sense of peace, calm and neutrality.

It’s a vibrational set point for the day.

And it’s still my priority when it comes to the morning routine.

To round out this blog I want to share a personal rule I have for my meditation practice.

• Meditation and hydration before caffeination.

When it comes to getting a real clean practice in, I always aim to meditate and hydrate before I caffeinate.

I love drinking coffee but I find when I drink coffee before meditation and hydration, it leads to more compulsive behaviour.

When I centre myself with meditation first, it helps me stay grounded.

If you’re an anxious person then I’d encourage you to give this simple morning routine a red hot crack!

Remember, consistency is key.

I’ve made it a part of my identity and lifestyle so I can continue to reap the benefits for the rest of my life.

The reward? Mastery over the mind.

If you’re looking for help, accountability and guidance, here’s a couple of ways to work with me: 

1. Hire me as your private 1:1 mindset coach by booking a free clarity call.

2. Join Mind Launch and get access to my community membership here.

You got this.

With Optimism,

Josh