Okay, so I decided to try this thing, focusing on being more… let’s say, deliberate? The words floating around were ‘classy, demure, mindful’. Sounded a bit much at first, not really my usual style, but I felt like I was rushing through things, conversations, just life in general. Always reacting, you know? Needed a change.
So, where did I start? It wasn’t like flipping a switch. First thing I did was try to just slow down my responses. When someone asked me something, or in a meeting, instead of jumping right in, I forced myself to take a breath. Just a tiny pause. Felt awkward as heck initially, thought people would think I was spacing out.
Then I moved onto listening. Like, really listening. Not just hearing sounds while thinking about my shopping list or what I’d say next. I tried to actually focus on the person talking. Made more eye contact. Less fidgeting with my phone or pen. This was harder than it sounds, honestly. My mind wanders.
Putting it into Practice Bit by Bit
I broke down the ‘mindful’ part into smaller chunks:
- When I had my morning coffee, I tried to just drink the coffee. Not scroll through news feeds or emails for those five minutes. Just taste it, feel the warmth. Sometimes worked, sometimes failed miserably.
- Tried to single-task more. If I was writing something, I closed other tabs. Again, hard, but I kept trying.
- The ‘classy’ and ‘demure’ bits… I didn’t go out and buy a new wardrobe or start talking in whispers. For me, it was more about carrying myself with less… chaos? Tried to keep my desk a bit tidier. Thought about my posture sometimes. Just generally aimed for less frantic energy.
It wasn’t a smooth ride. There were days I totally forgot, went back to my old rushing-around self. The pausing thing felt unnatural for ages. And trying to be ‘present’ can be exhausting when you’re used to juggling ten things mentally.
So, What Happened?
Well, I didn’t magically transform into some super serene, perfectly composed person. That wasn’t the goal anyway. But I did notice stuff. I felt less frazzled, genuinely. Fewer moments of saying something dumb because I hadn’t thought it through. Taking that tiny pause before reacting? It actually gave my brain a second to catch up. Huge difference in tricky conversations.
People didn’t suddenly treat me like royalty or anything, but interactions felt… smoother? Maybe calmer? Hard to pinpoint exactly, but the overall feeling was better. More grounded. I felt a bit more in control of myself, not just reacting to whatever happened around me. So yeah, this whole ‘classy demure mindful’ experiment, stripping away the fancy words, it was really about being more intentional. And for me, it’s been worth the effort, even on the days I forget and just fumble through.
