Three Simple Strategies to Improve Your Wellbeing and Mood this Spring Season

Now that it’s been a year, have you felt like you’ve hit your pandemic wall? Are you feeling more tired and stressed than usual, and burnt out at work? Has your overall well-being been impacted?

If you’re struggling to find the right self-care strategies to help you move through your day feeling energized, you’re not alone.

Well-being is a state of feeling happy, healthy, and comfortable. When you feel this mindset decline, you are more likely to have high levels of stress, and become more vulnerable to other challenging emotions such as irritability and sadness. Additionally, if you have a diagnosis of ADHD, you can experience a heighten state of distress. This is why you want to look at what you need in your life to enhance your mood and overall well-being, such as seeking guidance from a nutritionist for ADHD.

If you are feeling a lack of energy from your daily video calls, the lack of physical movement due to working from home, or you notice your inner critic showing up more often, now is the time to refocus and practice strategies to improve your mood and increase your wellbeing. When you take action, your stress levels will decrease, your negative thoughts will stop, and your mind and body will thank you.

If you are struggling, here are three simple strategies you can practice now to start feeling better.

Move your body, engage in exercise, and get some fresh air.

Being stuck inside for most of your waking hours can impact your mood negatively. So walk around your backyard, or take a short walk around the block. If you don’t have time to get outside, open a window and stretch, or walk around your home office. Research shows that moving our bodies positively affects our moods, so give it a try.

You can also try out different wellness and relaxation activities too. Trying something new could be just what you need to find things that work for you. It could be yoga, sound healing with singing bowls, or even going to a wellness retreat. Getting your body moving and engaging in healing activities could make a huge differnce to you

Practice appreciation every day.

When you focus your attention on what you appreciate or feel grateful for, it can shift your mood to a positive mindset. You can appreciate anything you want such as your morning cup of coffee, rolling out of bed and being in your home office five minutes later, your favorite cozy sweater, your best friend, and her amazing laugh. It can be anything!

If you make a conscious effort to say and write down three things each day that you appreciate, you will notice a decrease in negative thoughts and an overall boost to your mood.

Explore Different Types of Therapy

Taking care of your mental health might look different to everyone. Making simple lifestyle changes such as getting outside, moving your body, or making time for yourself can have a positive impact, but sometimes you may benefit from exploring additional forms of support. There are so many different types of therapy available, which can help you to feel better in yourself and improve your mood for the long-term. It’s worth taking time to find an option that feels right for your individual needs. For example, some people might find emdr therapy helpful when working through difficult experiences, distressing memories, or emotional challenges. Other approaches might focus more on changing thought patterns, developing coping strategies, or simply providing a safe space to talk. The important thing is not to feel that you have the perfect solution right away. Your mental health can change over time, and the type of support that feels useful might change with it. Exploring different options, speaking with a qualified professional, and paying attention to what helps you feel the most comfortable and supported can be very valuable parts of looking after your overall wellbeing.

Make yourself a priority daily.

At the beginning of every day, ask yourself how you want to take care of yourself. Each day can bring a different answer based on what you need, which means you may have to use a different skill. Asking yourself this question also means that you make yourself a priority every day!

More than this, you should also make sure you have access to the best possible healthcare, which may mean looking into concierge medicine, or something similar. By ensuring you have this, you’re putting yourself first, and taking your health seriously.

If you found any of these tips helpful, hit reply to this email. We love to hear from you. And if you are interested in learning more general stress and anxiety management strategies, you can join the ProgressWellness.com community here.

Present, not perfect

‘Present not perfect’ are words that have been on my mind lately. It’s how perfection or wanting something to be perfect keeps us from being present. 

Last month, I was thinking about skills I wanted to add back to my life, and one that came up was running. I used to run several days a week for years. When I would run, I would focus on my breathing, my body, the road ahead, and my music. This was my time--my time where I would be present in the moment. I called it my meditation. 

However, after a small injury, I stopped running and never got back into the same groove I had. And over time, I stopped running altogether. I would periodically think of it over the years, and go out for a run here and there, but never made an attempt to include it back into my daily routine but I knew I missed it. 

This left me wondering why I was resisting running. If I knew it brought me joy, why was I procrastinating going for a run? 

And here is what I was saying to myself:

• “What if I am so slow that it looks like I am just walking fast?”

• “What if I don’t like running anymore?”

• “What if I don’t run that far?”

• “What if it’s not a perfect run?”

• “What if someone in their car sees me run and says ‘wow, look at that slow woman try to run’?”

These were my thoughts! I am laughing now as I write them (especially that last one). But honestly, the doubt and worry that it wasn’t going to be a “perfect” run made me feel anxious and kept me from doing something I wanted to do again. 

After seeing my thoughts staring back at me, I realized how distorted they were and I started to challenge them. I probably will be slow. It is definitely not going to be a “perfect run”, and if I ran 50 feet or a mile, no one would care. And if someone did say “look at that slowpoke trying to run” why would that matter? I wasn’t going on a run for anyone else other than for me. 

Looking at my thoughts, challenging them, and getting back to why I wanted to run in the first place, helped soften my perfectionist tendencies and put the kibosh on those negative thoughts. 

Reframing my negative thoughts and getting back to the “why” helped me get my running shoes on, and myself out the door. I will say that those thoughts fluttered through my mind as I took my first few steps, but they didn’t stop me and before I knew it, I was fully present running and enjoying every second. 

This month, I have been on three runs, and I have felt happy with each one. I am slow, I have had some side cramps, and I’ve had to periodically walk, nothing close to whatever perfect might be, but I am so proud of myself for trying. I decided to make Friday’s my outside adventure time where I donate 20 minutes to walk, run, and be present. 

I’m sharing this with you because if you want things to be perfect or you fear that they won’t be, this frame of mind can rob you of experiences, enjoyment, adventures, and being present. When you focus on perfection, you lose the meaning of why you want to do something. I wasn’t running for perfection or to become an elite athlete. I was running because it made me happy. When I returned to that, I could see how perfectionism showed me a very distorted and unhelpful view. 

If you get stuck in self-doubt or have perfectionistic thinking, start by writing down your thoughts in a journal. When you see what you’re saying to yourself, it can be a bit easier to see where the distortion is and challenge it. 

Next, ask yourself why you want to do that one thing perfectionism or self-doubt is keeping you from. Why is it important to you? When you focus on why you want something, it shifts your attention to more positive thoughts and helps you get back into the present moment. 

A Year in Reflection

I can imagine many of you are waiting eagerly to ditch 2020 to the curb and welcome 2021, hoping for less drama and way more stability. If you are, I’m with you: Yes, please! 

But before we say goodbye to a year that was loaded with difficulties, I think it’s important to do a bit of reflection. 

Reflection is a very helpful skill because it allows you to see where you were, how far you’ve come, and where you’re looking to go next. It creates a moment to pause and acknowledge your emotional growth. 

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help jump-start your reflection: 

• What skills have you learned this year? 

• What helped you manage the stressors you faced?

• What were the stressful moments you predicted, and which moments caught you off guard?

• How did you get through those moments? 

• What skills were helpful for you? 

• What did you learn about yourself? 

• Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently? 

Taking some time to reflect on these questions allows you to see all the work you’ve done. When we are flying by the seat of our pants and just trying to get by, we don’t usually think of pulling over and acknowledging how strong, resilient, and courageous we are. Reflecting can help notice your successes as well as help you grow from your mistakes. We all learn by doing, so knowing where you thrived and where you could have done better can only build your confidence for next time. 

When I’m faced with challenges, I tend to think about something my dad used to say to me when I was in college and my emotions were flying high. He’d say “Angie, with every problem there is an opportunity for growth.” I found this very calming: Knowing that, even if stuff was hitting the fan, I’d at least learn something about myself and emotionally grow from it helped keep me grounded. Now I know why. It’s because being able to reflect creates opportunities to acknowledge growth. 

2020 certainly laid the challenges on thick, and maybe you think you’d rather not revisit all that. But before the New Year, I encourage you to reflect and write down your successes and what coping strategies helped you. 

Having this data will give you a moment to celebrate and also help you move through future challenges with more ease. You’ll know what strategies helped you, and you’ll have the knowledge that, even when faced with challenges, you had successes. 

And as my holiday gift to you, I’ve put all my stress management products on sale until December 31! Just use the code Holiday2020 at checkout to receive 20% off your order. Here’s to the last month of 2020! 

As always, I am sending good energy your way.