I’m sure like me, you were disappointed to learn we would again be in lockdown. The last 12 months have been tough for everybody and daily life has changed dramatically.
However, I’m sure many of you still made New Year resolutions…but how many of your resolutions are still going strong? We often set unrealistic goals which we then struggle to achieve and lockdown has made this more difficult along with the cold, short, dark days of January.
The trick is to begin by building on the basics and seeing them as foundation stones to build upon.
So what are the basics? Well, a few of the really important ones are sleep, exercise, diet, and relationships. Although we all know what is good for us and what isn’t, knowing and doing it are two different things.
So what can we do? The answer is to keep things simple and follow a step-by-step approach because if we expect too much from ourselves we can lose confidence and become demotivated, And, in this extremely uncertain world the only things we can be certain of is that small steps are more achievable than huge ones.
Going to sleep at the same time every night can be really helpful; it creates a sense of routine and of course when we commit to this change it boosts our confidence in our ability to make other changes. Each time we make a positive change it decreases anxiety and creates a renewed sense of control. Furthermore, when anxiety decreases everything else starts to feel easier.
What small change could you make to the basics in your life?