Hi
I know that sometimes it can be hard to stay happy and it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I thought I would compile a list of things that I personally do that make me a lot happier just in case it works for anyone else who may need a little boost!
Don’t Take Things Too Seriously
Have a little fun with what you’re doing. The older you get
the faster life seems to go by and let me tell you: life is far too short to
take everything seriously.
Laugh At Yourself
Life is so much easier when you know how to laugh at
yourself. Have you ever had one of those moments where you have completely
humiliated yourself in front of someone or even a lot of people and you stand
there wishing that if there was any time for the aliens to show themselves and
take you away now would we be the time? Because I have had many of those. But
these situations can be eased slightly, if you can see the funny side and laugh
at your mistakes, chances are other people will laugh along too.
Cuddle Your Pet
To your pet you are their whole world. They may only be a
short part of your life but to them you are everything. Your pets do not care
what embarrassing thing you did, the mistake you made at work, the fact that
you’ve been putting off doing washing for over a month. They love you no matter
what is going on in your life or anything you have done. Just a little cuddle,
hold or pat to them means the world. Once you truly realise this a little pat,
hold or cuddle with your pet will mean the world to you too. Nothing is more
comforting to me than cuddling my little ball of fluff!
Exercise
I can almost hear the internal groans of “ergh, shut up,
I’ve heard it before”. Believe me I am the most lazy person you have ever met,
I would fake injury notes in school to get out of PE (Physical Education) and I
never thought I would encourage people to exercise BUT you do feel better for
it. I find the only way I enjoy exercise is to listen to my ipod while I do it
and imagine I’m the most beautiful, fit person in the world. I’m also usually a
great singer in my imagination. Exercise gives me a sense of accomplishment and
it’s so nice to eventually be able to do more and more physical things with
ease.
Do Something Productive
When I say ‘something productive’ it doesn’t necessarily
mean some big task that will take all day. Just something little like return
that email you’ve been putting off, do the dishes, get the food shop out of the
way, make a start on that assignment, anything small that will make you feel a
sense of accomplishment. If you do one small productive thing every day, soon
you’ll slowly get on top of things and that is the best feeling.
Set Some Time For You
One afternoon a week (you can organise more or less, up to
you!) set aside some time to do whatever you want – guilt free. Now, I’m one to
always put off important things and watch my favourite tv shows instead but I
can never properly enjoy them because of the guilt in the back of my mind
telling me that I SHOULD be doing something else instead. But if you set aside
some time for absolutely nothing else but yourself to do whatever you want
whether that’s taking a nap, reading, watching a movie, going for a walk,
drawing, going to the gym, knitting, practicing model poses in the mirror – whatever you want,
you will find yourself feeling a little more rejuvenated.
Plan Something To Look Forward To
Day-to-day life can get quite boring when all you feel like
you’re doing is going through the motions of work and/or study then sleeping
and starting all over again. One way to make the grind of work, University or
school a little more bearable is to plan something to look forward to. This can
be anything, depending on your situation. It can be a small holiday away, a big
holiday away, a pamper day at home doing whatever you want, a trip to the zoo,
whatever it is you want! Half the fun of doing these things is the excitement
of the lead up to them!
Tidy
Another thing I never thought I would be the one to
encourage. I hate cleaning. It’s a lot of effort and things only end up messy
again. But I find when my house or room is cluttered, clothes are everywhere
and I’m falling over things as I walk to my bed that I’m a lot more stressed.
Probably because cleaning it up is one more thing on my mind that I have to do
at some point. Although I dislike doing it once I have tidied my room or my
house (it doesn’t have to be immaculate- just tidy) I feel a lot better. I’m a
lot calmer and somehow my mood just lifts – even if sometimes it’s only
slightly. But just today I did a tidy up and It’s put me in quite a good mood!
Accomplishment achieved.
Look After Yourself
This seems simple and anyone reading this is probably
thinking ‘well isn’t that just the most obvious thing I’ve ever seen’. But not
looking after themselves is something a lot of people are guilty of even if
they don’t realise it (including me). What I mean by this is go to bed a little
earlier, make sure you’re getting enough sleep! It sounds simple, but so many
of us try to run on so little sleep and we end up feeling terrible for it. Rest
when you need it, eat when you need it, take a break when you need it, try to
have all three meals, and be kind to yourself. Too many times something will
go wrong and we will be so horribly harsh on ourselves. You are just a person,
people make mistakes and that’s okay.
Change Your Mindset
You’ve probably heard it before but happiness is a choice. I
don’t think anyone wakes up and is just constantly happy without making even a
slight effort to be. Of course, some people are just naturally more energetic
or bubbly but it always takes a conscious effort to be happy. No one can be
happy all the time, so by this I don’t mean that whenever you feel sad you have
to push those sad feelings down and ignore them while trying desperately not to
cry. It’s okay to feel sad occasionally and let yourself work through it. By
changing your mindset I just mean to sit and think: “Everything is not perfect,
but I do have some good things in my life and I want to be happy. Today I’m
going to make the best of things”. Go into the day with the mindset that it
could be a good day if given the chance to be!
Be Nice To Others – They’ll Be Nice Back
The way you treat others (as I’m sure you know) as a huge
impact on how they will treat you. You can’t be mean, moody, inattentive or
uninterested and expect other people to engage with you in a really happy,
positive way. Mostly because they’ll feel like you don’t want to engage with
them. The nicer and friendlier you are the more likely other people will treat
you the same back. Nothing makes my day more than talking to someone who is
lovely and seems to want to talk to me, even if it’s only a brief encounter at
the petrol station. It’s not to say that 100% of people will be nice to you if
you’re nice to them, I wish it was that way but some people are just going
through a rough time or are in a bad mood and don’t always respond in the way
you deserve if you’re being kind to them. But don’t let that discourage you
because most of the time it will have good results and even if it doesn’t it’s
nothing to do with you it’s just something they’re personally going through. Not too long ago I did a little post on kindness with some quotes, if you want to check that out click
here!
Have Breakfast
I know that everyone everywhere says breakfast is the most
important meal of the day. I’m not saying that (It might be, I don’t know, I
haven’t looked into it). What I’m saying is that you will feel so much more
energetic and just… prepared for the day if you have breakfast. I was always
one to skip breakfast, I had places to be and I would much rather an extra half
an hour of sleep than to be up making food. But in the last few months I’ve
been making a huge effort to have breakfast because when I do my days go so
much better. I find I feel less tired, I don’t get as many headaches and I feel
less nauseas by the afternoon. I actually look forward to my coffee and toast
every morning now.
No One Is Happy All The Time
This is very important and something I personally have only
just come to truly realise. Of course it seems obvious but a lot of the time we
don’t really let it sink in. Whenever I
would feel sad I would try desperately to snap out of it because it wasn’t a
pleasant feeling, everyone else was happy and having fun and I wanted to be
like that too. But it is okay to be
sad. Sometimes something happens in our lives that makes us sad and
sometimes we’re sad and not even that sure why. But that’s okay, we need to
feel sadness to feel happiness. Everyone, no matter who they are or how happy
they always seem will be sad sometimes. Let yourself be sad, give yourself some
time, listen to some music, mope around – whatever you need. But know when to
try to pick yourself up again.
It’s Not The End Of The World
Often things will happen, these can be quite big things like
failing school or university, getting fired from work, anything. And sometimes it
can be smaller things that feel like a big deal or just happen to mean an awful
lot to you. One thing to remind yourself is that no matter what happens or how
much it feels like everything is falling apart and you’ll never get back on
your feet: It’s not the end of the world. More specifically it’s
not the end of your world. It may feel like it is and that’s understandable,
especially when it’s a huge part of your life or something you’ve been working
towards for a very long time. But sometimes things aren’t meant to be.
Sometimes we just need to try again and sometimes we need to let it
go. Your world will keep turning, you
will pick yourself up again and may even end up in an even better place than
you had first imagined. As long as you keep trying you will be okay.
I hope that some of these have been of even a little help to you. Chin up and have a lovely day!
x
