It is impossible to stay in place: as soon as a person stops moving forward, he begins to move in the opposite direction. It often happens that people (especially with age) notice that, for example, it is becoming harder and harder to undertake work that requires concentration, mastering new skills or which is simply unusual. Increasingly, they think about issues of self-development and how to stop degrading. Spoiler: reading your favorite writers and magazines, your native language, your favorite cafes and movies, working in a familiar specialty and talking with old friends - all this leads to degradation.
About degradation
Many psychologists do not recognize the use of the term "degradation" in relation to personality. However, this does not prevent the phenomenon from being: sometimes people are slowly at first, and then more and more quickly slide down the inclined life. In general, this is a decline. Losing valuable qualities is what degradation means.
The brain and man have something in common - they are both lazy. They try to reduce energy costs for any activity, creating unique programs that are executed according to a pattern. According to the biologist Richard Simon, these programs are called engrams - this is a physical habit or a trace of memory from repeated exposure to the stimulus.
If you fantasize, you can see engrams in the form of paths that neurons lay in the brain, doing the same thing. Performs longer - less energy is spent. Sometimes paths become roads, and then entire motorways. And this is an excellent superpower, but only on the one hand. The flip side of the coin is a decrease in brain plasticity.
The longer people use engrams, the less basal ganglia function. And their main function is the development of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, an assistant to neurons in the passage of new paths in the midst of informational noise (this is approximately what happens after reading this paragraph).
It is enough to remember the way to an educational institution or to work. Typically, people walk or ride the same route. And if the latter is more than six months old, "autopilot" is turned on, and in parallel with walking or riding, people can already listen to music, read or reply to messages. It is quite difficult for a best friend to hide anxiety behind a smile, as well as a person who communicates with him can easily decipher such communicative signals. The same thing happens with the menu in your favorite restaurant.
And it seems that there is no point in changing all this. But life is a continuous source of change (reduction, falling in love with Spanish women, new tasks at work), most of which are not controlled by people. You have to adapt to them and this is a matter of survival.
This is why brain plasticity needs to be maintained and trained. You can imagine the brain as concrete, which will harden after a certain period. And you can also look at old people who are not able to send SMS, do not perceive the new and prefer the same actions year after year. To cope with degradation, you need to constantly mix the mixture in the head, in no way letting it harden.
Signs and Causes
In order to understand how to stop degrading and begin to develop, it is very important to understand the causes and symptoms of the phenomenon. Signs can be diverse and related to all aspects of life:
- Decrease in interest in the life of loved ones.
- Loss of communication and social skills. A person does not want to communicate as before, and if he decides to make contact, then his quality is unsatisfactory for any participant. Most of all, a degrading person avoids communicating with those who point out errors and talk about the importance of changing lives.
- Deterioration of intellectual abilities, as well as cooling interest in reading and learning, learning new things.
- Loss of interest in work, even if before it was a favorite thing.
- Poverty vocabulary, speech mainly consists of parasitic words and obscene expressions, and the answers are monosyllables.
- Clutter at home and / or in the workplace.
- Negligent attitude to one's own health and well-being of others.
- Abundance of laziness, irresponsibility, indifference. Absent-mindedness, irritability, fears, pessimism and lies.
- Bad appearance. Such people cease to monitor personal hygiene and cleanliness of clothes, do not cut their hair on time and so on.
- The appearance or exacerbation of bad habits, dubious relationships, gambling, a tendency to criminal actions.
All symptoms may be inherent in a person, most of them or only one. Important: all signs individually do not necessarily indicate degradation. For example, a person who works in the field of trade may well get tired of people in a day and need time alone with himself. Enthusiastic book writers (or other representatives of the creative professions and people who are simply in love with their work) in the process of work can forget about their appearance. Degradation can also be confused with professional burnout and the need for leave.
There can be many reasons too. Some of them:
- All kinds of addictions (games, alcohol or drugs).
- New circumstances that a person is not used to. For example, this happens after retirement. People do not know what to do. Some do not find suitable ways to spend time and succumb to indifference and laziness.
- Crises (age and other).
- Feeling guilty about some act.
- Traumatic psyche incident.
- Achieving the main goal, after which it seems to people that there is nothing more to strive for.
- Mental disorders.
- Loneliness.
Development methods
There are many ways to begin to develop intellectually and stop degrading. The most effective of them:
- Foreign languages.
- Personal care.
- Odor experiments.
- No repetition.
- Forget about the shortcuts.
- New routes.
- No criticism.
- Children or animals.
- Playlist update.
- Circle of friends.
Foreign languages
Learning new languages is a great way to stop degrading. Everyone can find their own incentive to study, for example, related to a hobby, work or travel. A good motivation is the ability to read in the original a favorite author, listen to a music group or become a polyglot.
Learning other languages is the most effective tool for training brain plasticity, since words and the semantic fields combined with them, as a rule, differ from the native language. This works especially well, if not limited to the tourist vocabulary and delve into the cultural features.
Take care of yourself
Action and stops degradation. It implies a feeling of discomfort from all kinds of changes: your favorite magazine has updated its design or there is no favorite ice cream on the shelves of the store. It is necessary to seize on this feeling and untwist it. A good idea to eliminate degradation is to try all kinds of ice cream or even start making your own.
Odor experiments
Smells also have a tremendous effect on humans, despite the fact that evolution deprived the sense of smell receptors of paramount importance. It's time to change your favorite perfume, which people prefer to use for years. Doing this is recommended at regular intervals.
No repetition
Refusing various repetitions is one of the most effective ways to stop personality degradation. Psychologists do not advise re-reading previously read books. Even if it is the favorite of Haruki Murakami or one of the best books in the history of world literature. Equally, you cannot review already watched TV shows and films (even if it's “Friends” or “Sherlock”).
This is a very pleasant and universal feeling - to plunge into the cozy and native world of Harry Potter or Max Fry's masterpieces: familiar characters, no surprises, knowledge of the finale and the opportunity to enjoy those little things that were missed the first or previous time. But, watching the season over the weekend or swallowing a book in an hour, people take away from other literary and cinematic works the chance to discover something completely new to them. No need to deprive the brain of the formation of alternative neural connections.
Forget about shortcuts
One of the significant answers to the question of what to do in order not to degrade is to stop putting labels on people. Yes, it is very convenient. No need to understand a person and the motives of his actions, you can just succumb to weakness and brand:
- drinks with friends - an alcoholic;
- cheated on a guy - a girl of easy virtue;
- mentally ill - dangerous;
- does not greet - impolite;
- reads cheap detective stories - no taste and so on.
An even greater number of life circumstances may be pressing on each person than on the same Rodion Raskolnikov. But many consider his thoughts interesting, and a divorced neighbor with three children is something unworthy of attention and vulgar.
New routes
The next popular way to learn from experience how to stop degrading is the novelty of the routes. The search for new ways is developing very well, it makes sense to reconsider the usual way to work and home, find another supermarket and a bookstore, change your favorite billiard club to something new. It may cost time, but it will pay off in another way - lower prices or fewer people in the institution.
No criticism
Stop criticizing - that's how degradation can be stopped. Negative reviews about new furniture, design or the ending of the novel, overwhelming social networks and all kinds of conversations - it's all about resisting the changes that so suddenly and at the wrong time came in life. As a rule, we are talking about things that people are not able to change. Or they can, but it will require a lot of effort that is simply not worth it. There are more interesting activities than keeping notes in complaints books.
If we talk about the benefits for development, it is advisable to accept changes and engage in motivation in order to continue to live in a new reality. Here's how it should look:
- “Road repair? Excellent, because in a month there will be no more pits here. Meanwhile, you can learn something new about the area. ”
- “New menu?” Great, old dishes have long become boring. ”
- “A new work tablet?” And why not treat it like a quest instead of getting nervous? ”
Children or animals
One of the important methods that will help prevent degradation and / or get rid of it. Children are an eternal source of chaos and uncertainty. Children are living “concrete mixers” in the head; they destroy all stereotypes. Sons or daughters bring something new daily through their behavior, questions, and experiments. Parents often themselves do not notice how their thinking is liberated, and they begin to think very differently.
If you have children (so far) if you don’t get it or if you don’t want to, you can try the option with pets. For example, dogs. They need to be walked, and fresh air is a benefit to the brain. Dogs can be no less a source of chaos than children. And they involve the owners in communication with other dog lovers.
Playlist update
New music is just about how to stop degrading and start living. Scientists can disappoint even music lovers with dozens of thousands of tracks in their playlists. Most often, people listen to 50-100 familiar compositions. They are all pleasant for the same reasons - people adapted to them, and the brain does not need additional resources to process and comprehend these works. But there is so much music in the world that even if you change the radio station daily, life will still not be enough to listen to everything. Nevertheless, to strive for this is to take care of your own development.
Circle of friends
You need to replenish the list of acquaintances and friends in order to learn how to stop degrading and begin to develop. It is very cool when you have your own company, which is nice to meet every Saturday in your favorite bar (probably the same thing), and discuss basketball or new outfits of famous singers. This is about psychological comfort.
But at the same time, most people live in big cities and it is absolutely not clear why to limit your social circle to 5-6 people. By the way, most often people don’t choose comrades themselves, they are imposed by geography, a school, a higher educational institution, work.
Man is a product of the environment. The society has a very strong influence on people and often they change because of friends not only their opinions and interests, but even such significant nuances as occupation. Is it worth talking about the influence of the circle of communication on the way of thinking ?!
Unfortunately, degradation is almost a universal problem, and many people are concerned about how to stop degrading. The most important thing to do for your salvation and development is action. There are many ways to stop the decline. Among the most common and effective ones are studying foreign languages, experimenting with aromas, refusing to repeat, labels and criticism, new roads, animals or children, updating the list of friends and the playlist.