Happy New Year all! Wishing you effective and abundant times ahead. If like me you’ve taken the last few days to reflect on and plan the habits you want to implement (or get rid of) in the year ahead then you are in good company. Luckily there are so many resources out there that can help you get organised and learn how to be effective with your time, but through it all, we shouldn’t forget ourselves and our wellbeing.
Many use the terms wellness and wellbeing interchangeably, but there is a difference, wellness focuses more on physical health and exercise. While this is clearly important it is only one element of our overall wellbeing. Wellbeing places emphasis on how you feel and your mental health.
Being active – let’s face it, at this time of year, fitness is likely not too far from the mind of most. Despite our busy lives, many still make it a priority to plan in time for gym or yoga sessions etc. Being active is essential to our wellbeing as physical health is key to all our other bodily functions, including emotional health. It’s probably cliché, but the rush I feel after completing a good workout is great. Knowing that I’ve done a little bit for my body and that I can enjoy my meals without worrying about additional weight gain is truly motivating. I want to cultivate a bit of a lifestyle centred on being active, weight management really doesn’t need to be that difficult. Let me know if you would be interested to know how I maintain my weight and keep active the easy way.
Say no – as we are talking about wellbeing, something I learned in the last couple of years and is key to my plan for 2019, just say no. If you are on a journey (actually even if your not) and you’ve made your plan for the week, don’t let time gremlins come and hijack your success. Sometimes thing will come up, stuff you feel obligated to do, you know you don’t have to, but are perhaps worried about disappointing others. To that, just say no. If it’s not in your plan and not going to add to your life then don’t drop the things that are to do it. For me, it’s often after work socials, do I stay or do I go home and write that blog post that I was meant to finish yesterday and is due tomorrow….. Don’t get me wrong, there will be times you want to reschedule tasks you’ve set yourself, just make sure it’s for the right reason and that you can still meet your deadlines.
Live a life of service – this conflicts with the point above, I hear you say! It doesn’t have to. If you speak to some of the wealthiest people in the world, they are likely to tell you that they are successful because they saw a problem and created a way to fix it. We can all, each in our own way, do something similar. If your aim is to be an entrepreneur, then solve everyday problems with your product or service. One of my intentions this year is to implement more of service based activities. I don’t even just mean things we can profit from. Sometimes it’s just nice to help someone and if you have faith or believe in karma and such, a life of service is the easiest way to build abundance in to your life. Doing good for others can in turn make you feel good. Thing of how you feel when you give someone a present and wait to see the look on their face when the open it, such is a life of service! Make sure your own cup is full first though, so you have something to give.
Never stop learning – the fastest way to a negative emotional state is to feel lost, like you have no direction or your efforts are wasted. The best way to combat this is to continue learning. I dread to think where I would be if I didn’t avidly read and consume articles, books and other media that talks about mental health, work life balance, time management and all the other important pillars of modern life. These things are now mainstream and it is empowering to know that if there are elements to your life you don’t like, chances are, someone else has been through something similar and probably written a book about it. Self help books, biographies, psychology and philosophical concepts are essential for increasing our understanding of the world.
Mental health – keep an eye on it. By this I mean, find ways to monitor your moods, what brings you joy what makes you feel stressed? This is obviously a very simple question to ask and it’s really just the beginning. From here you can see if there are elements of your life that you can change to be more at peace, or identify a deeper issue that you should seek help for. Never be afraid to ask for help or seek out people with similar feelings to you. Just be cautious because not all help actually helps, you have to weed out the crap and know what works for you.
I hope you found this post useful and enjoyable to read. Let me know what you do to support your wellbeing.
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