7 things to do after publishing a story on Medium

From my own experience and what I have read about others, the most common thing we do is keep refreshing the stats page after publishing a story. It is not the worst thing to do, but it can make you frustrated, tired, and depressed.

So here’s the list of things one can try after publishing a story:

• Stare at something at some distance: You have been looking at the screen for too long. Now you have won a voucher to look something at a distance to relax your eyes. Try to ensure it is not another screen at some distance. Too bad if you were thinking about going to a movie.
• Clean your room: If you have not looked away from your screen for a long time and you are afraid of what you might see if you just go and look outside, then you can start with looking at what’s on your desk apart from the laptop and phone. After you are comfortable looking at the items at your desk, move on to looking at stuff in your room. If you find something that is not aesthetically pleasing, try hiding it somewhere. Or try putting it in symmetry with the things around it.
• Go for a walk: This will help relax your eyes and give you some physical activity. Who knows how long you had been sitting in a chair to produce that masterpiece. Now you can treat your body with a small walk around the block.
• Walk your pet: This comes with the benefits mentioned in the last point minus the lonely feeling. If you don’t have a pet or your pet is too busy, you can imagine you are walking a pet. Just ensure your imagination is not so vivid that it scares your neighbors.

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• Take care of your plants: Go water the plants while it can still benefit them. You can stare at them for a while. Don’t stand too close to ensure you are following the first point (stare at a distance) as well. Just don’t make them too uncomfortable. If you are authorized, you can water the plants as well.

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• Prepare a snack: If the story you wrote forced your brain to work, chances are you might be feeling hungry. Instead of staring at your laptop or mobile screen scanning through what you can order, go in the kitchen and prepare a snack. If you don’t like what you prepared, you can ask the plants mentioned in the last point if they would like the snack.

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• Take a nap: If all the ideas mentioned above are too much work for you and you just want to relax, then take a nap. Make sure you ask your phone to wake you up in fifteen minutes. And try to not do it in your chair and not while looking at your screen and not while watching a YouTube video playing on your screen.

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You can pick any of them, or combine multiple, or you can invent your own activity. The secret ingredient is that it should not involve your laptop or mobile phone and it should not be done while sitting at your desk.