Boost Your HAPPINESS With These Tips

It’s 2021, a New Year! But I know for some, it just feels like an endless and bleak continuation of 2020. The restrictions of the Global Pandemic continue with the latest Lockdown 3 in the UK.

Let’s face it we’ve all binge watched Netflix, had more Zoom calls and quizzes than we can count, put on a few extra pounds by rewarding ourselves with a few naughtier food treats, walked/jogged endlessly around our local areas... and that was just Lockdown 1!

So what now….?!

Well, I’ve compiled a few helpful hints/tips below to help you through the continued trying times we’re all currently facing.

Looking Good!

With the continuation of working from home, it’s easier to stay in jogging bottoms with no make-up on and your hair up in a messy bun or fresh from the shower without so much as a comb through! But, looking good is an important part of feeling good. Try to make a bit of an effort and reinstate your old morning routine.

Support ethical businesses by purchasing some new comfy but smart clothes to wear around the house from companies such as Komodo  or if you’re on a bit more of a budget Kotn  

Throw on a bit of lippy or pop on that designer watch you save for special occasions – because why not. You’re still working at home after all!

Healthy treats

Whilst it’s tempting to stock up on pizza and choccy biccys given it’s FREEZING outside, we lose light at 4pm, there’s a national lockdown which means there are no pubs or restaurants open, and on top of that BREXIT!!!! However, eating these foods that are packed full of chemicals that destroy your immune system and will end up making you increase in weight is only going to end up making you feel ultimately worse about everything.

Instead, if you can muster the willpower to create your own snacks in 10 mins there are some great ideas here and if that doesn’t cut it – there are some more awesome recipes here

Move your body

I won’t bore you too much with this one, let’s face it, we all know exercise is good for us. HOWEVER, if you’re currently suffering with mental health, fatigue, depression or SAD; motivation to exercise may be difficult. Whilst exercise is proven to benefit all of these issues, start with moving your body – just move – in whatever form that comes in:

- stand up and sit down several times on the sofa

- walk around your home every hour on the hour

- Do one squat a day or two or three

- Dance around the house to some of your favourite music – get those endorphins released!

- Try 10 star jumps when you get out of bed

- Try stretches every day or every hour

Ultimately, the more you move your body – the better you will feel. AND it’s totally free! Once you get into the habit of moving more, you’ll probably want to start a fitness routine which will improve your mental health tenfold. More here on the benefits of exercise – thank you NHS!

Creative Writing

We’ve all connected far more than ever via online sources during the last year. But now we all have a bit more time on our hands – what about going back to basics. Remember how great it used to be to receive a hand written letter that wasn’t a bill (sorry millennials – it’s what we did before social media!!) Maybe take some time to write letters to your nearest and dearest – to do nothing more than to brighten their day.

A lot of elderly and vulnerable people are sheltering at the moment so I’m sure a hand written letter would brighten their day. A lot of inspiration for letter writing can be found here thank you @CATSAUNDERS

Self-Reflect

Lockdown is a great time to reflect inwardly. What are you good at? What do you love? What is your passion? Have you achieved what you’ve wanted to in life? What would you like to do more of? What would your 80 year old self look back and say about you? If you had a magic wand…what would you do differently? What do you hope to achieve once restrictions are lifted?

All in all, my final tip is don’t be too hard on yourself. These are really trying times for every single one of us in different ways and we are all just trying to get through it. So if you feel like you’re not doing enough, don’t be too hard on yourself. Let’s keep going – doing whatever that is to keep going and at some point, life may just get a bit less difficult.

Boost Your MOTIVATION With These Tips

I think one of the hardest things to master is continued impenetrable motivation. So what is the answer?

In order to keep motivated you need to stay focused on your end goal. Knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it. It sounds basic but sometimes the “why” may get blurred into that’s what you’ve always done, or because what else would you do? But that’s what you need to pay attention to. If you’re not sure why you are doing something, maybe it’s time you were doing something differently? Or at least taking some time to figure out that all important “Why am I doing this?” Another important question to answer is “For how long am I doing this?” because maybe some things are worth sacrificing? Short term endurance for longer term gain.

Motivation is interesting though because it’s so easy to lose and so easy to fall back into bad habits that create obstacles for you getting to your end goal. Another tip that may help keep you on track is to consider why it is you have set yourself a certain goal. That will also keep you focused as to why you need to keep doing something that maybe you are getting demotivated by. For example, if you don’t like going to the gym but your end goal is to lose weight quickly for an event, you know the reason that you need to keep going and that will help maintain your focus.

There are two types of motivation Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation which is where an individual becomes motivated by others or events and Intrinsic motivation which comes from within the individual.

It’s important to know which you are most responsive to so that you are not solely being motivated by external factors, and it is coming from within as well.

Motivation has been considered as one of the most important reasons that inspire a person to move forward in life. So if moving forwards is something that is important to you, it is key to master motivation.

At Bethink Coaching, we offer coaching on topics such as Motivation – either as a one of coaching session or more session…you can find out more here about the types of coaching packages we offer.