Often, when we think about how we want to make a change to our lives, we focus on the end result we are looking to achieve rather than celebrating the small wins we make along the way. This then leads to us feeling negative about ourselves and dismissing any gains or positive changes we achieved.
There is always a lot of focus on us doing positive things that are decided on by the outside influences such as the media. We are told to prioritise being kinder to ourselves, whilst getting fitter, losing weight, earning more, getting that promotion or having a new car. Ultimately, if we aim to encourage things into our lives that make us happy and grateful, then the rest should flow. As ‘homework’ I often ask my clients to do one small thing that is positive and stop doing one small thing that is negative that they find themselves doing most days. It doesn’t need to be huge changes to start to make a difference in your day to day life – stopping yourself from spending countless minutes scrolling aimlessly through social media, but rather using this time to sit and read a book, go for a short walk or call a friend for a quick chat are all small changes that are easy to make without feeling like you’re making an effort.
Some more small changes you could make that will lead you on to feeling better on a bigger scale could be Recognise the value of what you eat each day Like your car, your body needs the right kind of fuel. If you put diesel in a petrol car it’s going to struggle to work properly, it might still run but it will feel rough and like it’s chugging along, and eventually it will give up. Your body is no different.
Just think for a minute - what does the food on my plate do for my body? Is it full of nutrients? Will it give me energy or take it away? Will it make me feel energised or sluggish after I’ve eaten it?
Make long-lasting changes to your eating habits
A diet is a short-term temporary fix, and so is any benefit that comes with it.
If you want long term health benefits, then create long term habits that will allow this. Make these positive food habits a way of life, a permanent routine that benefits you on a permanent basis.
If you have dieted in the past, what did you find really worked for you?
To make a permanent change, there needs to be a positive response to the new routine you put in place. You may be someone who does well on small snacks throughout the day rather than 3 main meals, you may be someone who thrives on fasting for 14 hours. Whatever works best for you, will be more achievable and have a long-lasting effect.
Know what drives you
Ask yourself questions and explore your own behaviours. Why do you think that you need to make these changes? What other influences are involved? Explore the thoughts and feelings attached to your responses to your questions, what sits behind your initial response.
By exploring those feelings further, you may find that you are able to rewrite some of those limiting beliefs and have a new perspective on life.
Take some time out
Ok, be honest with yourself here, how often do you give yourself some time off? Do you ever set aside time for you to rest, relax and just be?
It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hamster wheel of life; we find it hard to allow ourselves time off to do nothing and have some time to just catch our breath and re-centre ourselves.
But taking a brief moment to rest and recuperate will do wonders for daily life. You’ll feel recharged and refreshed, ready to tend to those commitments with more energy and enthusiasm than before.
Taking time for yourself isn’t selfish it’s a necessity! Prioritise your health Our bodies are generally quite robust and pretty good at coping with a lack of care and attention for a really long time before they say enough! If we want good health, we have to make an effort. We have to invest time, energy and resource into creating the health we want. This means making time for your health, being conscious about it and taking deliberate steps
Prevention is so much easier than cure.