The exaggerated pace of modern-day life often leaves us feeling tired, sleepy, and stressed. And while we certainly can’t expect the world to slow down, we are still able to control our own response to the hectic and overwhelming to-do lists we often burden ourselves with.
Today we’ll look at six simple but effective routines that can help boost your wellbeing in 2021, and that won’t knock your entire schedule for six.
1. Find Time for Rest
Sleep is incredibly underrated, yet we still keep sacrificing it. This can dampen our mood and make everyday tasks more challenging.
If you can’t find a way to sleep for seven-ish hours during the night (but you should definitely really try!), make room for a nap in the afternoon. It can renew your energy levels and provide that second burst of productivity.
2. Your Best Routine
You probably cherish some of your skincare and beauty products more than others. You might use them sparingly or not at all, saving them for special occasions.
Instead of risking a product going out of date because you’re being so careful with it, establish a morning routine that you really enjoy and that will also help you get out of bed.
3. Therapy for Your Muscles
Whether you sit at a desk all day or have a more physically demanding job, your body will begin to feel the toll at one point or another. Don’t wait for the aches and pains to start. Instead, do something pleasant and simple to prevent them.
Effective IT band stretches are a great way to get your blood flowing and improve your flexibility. They will also help you prevent the muscle pains that come with a sedentary lifestyle.
4. Grasp a Positive Outlook
Have you ever managed to hold on to a positive view of things while going through a negative situation or slightly afterward when you were contemplating that same negative? If this kind of approach is familiar to you, you’ll know how much easier it is to deal with life’s challenges that way.
Even when nothing challenging or bad is happening, negative thinking can sap your energy and leave you feeling anything but well.
Teach yourself to embrace the positives, even when it’s difficult (especially then!). It will provide a useful coping mechanism for what the world has to throw at you.
5. Manage Your Time (and Your Expectations)
To-do lists and calendars are a great way to manage your time and workload. However, they can also take over complete control of your life, if you let them.
Be very realistic about what you can do in a day. You are not a robot, first of all.
And second of all, don’t forget to factor in how you are feeling on a given day. Sometimes you’ll be able to smash your list by noon. When that’s the case, do tomorrow’s tasks as well. But when the day is not quite your best one, don’t force yourself to keep going. Slow down, take a breather, and only deal with the most urgent items. The rest can wait until you come back with a more productive mindset.
6. Manage Your Mind
The ultimate cause of a lot of stress and strife in our minds, believe it or not. The way we choose to think about and react to things determines how we will feel about them, and we can easily blow something out of proportion just by overthinking.
Find a way to manage your mind better. It might be yoga, meditation, journaling, deep breathing – any practice you find that helps you relax and disengage from the day’s events. You’ll need some time to get used to it and experience all the benefits, so don’t rush yourself to feel zen in the space of a week.
Final Thoughts
A lot of feeling well is up to us and how we choose to take on the people and events around us. Some days we feel we can conquer the world, and other days we’d prefer to stay in bed. By adopting some (if not all) of the practices we’ve discussed in this article, you can become better at feeling well and keep a lot of daily stress at bay. Give them a try, and report back!
