Here are 10 simple ideas that can help you to improve your wellbeing on a daily basis.
1. Exercise. Whether its walking, a class, yoga or dancing around the kitchen to music – move – it’s good for you. Do you need a goal to work towards? Do you need to be accountable, sign up for a race or white collar boxing to motivate you?
2. Be mindful. Allow yourself time and space to think and recharge by paying attention to what’s going on for you rather than running on autopilot. Step out of the rat race. Take a bath, take time out, read a book, slow down.
3. Eat good food. Don’t eat food that doesn’t make you feel good, either nutritionally or self-esteem wise. Enjoy what you eat and feel good about it. You can make healthy food taste super good with seasoning, herbs and spices. Smoothies to alkaline the body and rebalance and they’re filling. Find inspiration online.
4. Allow yourself to work within your natural body clock and give yourself enough sleep. If sleep is tricky, meditate yourself to sleep, allow your body and mind to ease in gently. Turn technology off from 8pm.
5. Gratitude lists – every day think of 5 things that you feel grateful for. It’s a great way to focus your mind on the positives and ground yourself in the moment. It doesn’t have to be big, it can be 5 simple things, the blue sky, the sun shining, the birds tweeting.
6. Meditate – 10 minutes a day is great. If you can do longer, fab, but just 10 minutes will make a difference if that’s all you can fit into your day. It takes practice to accept those thoughts and let them be without holding onto them or judging yourself but you can retrain your brain with repitition. The gaps between thoughts get wider. Don’t give up. It’s an amazing tool.
7. Keep a check on that inner critic. Remember we are not our thoughts. If your not in a good place then our inner critic can be cruel. They’re just thoughts, they’re not fact or truth, don’t forget that you have a choice as to whether you listen.
8. Play. As adults we forget to engage in play and it’s so important for us. Have some fun. Engage in things you used to love even as far back as childhood. Are there things you’ve always wanted to try? Hobbies that you can take up? Painting is one of my favourites now. You don’t know what’s possible until you try it.
9. Connection – it is an innate human need to belong, feel like we fit within our community, that we have purpose and we’re contributing to society. Might you want to volunteer? Or be part of any groups? See your friends, laugh a lot.
10. Learning – never stop learning, expand your mind, challenge yourself, do something that scares you. When you come through the other side it will have built your self esteem for completing and seeing it through and you’ll feel stronger on the inside.
People really just want to feel comfortable in their own shoes, sometimes that’s a journey, depending on your past but one very much worth making. Be brave. You can get there.