HEALTH + WELLNESS
GO EASY ON YOURSELF
REST AND RELAXATION HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT
GENERALLY , THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD : THOSE THAT DO AND THOSE THAT DON ’ T . SOME , NO MATTER HOW MANY TIPS , TRICKS OR MOTIVATIONAL CHATS YOU GIVE THEM STILL DON ’ T TAKE ACTION , AND OTHERS WILL SPRING INTO PROACTIVITY AS SOON AS THE ADVICE THEY ’ VE ASKED FOR HAS LANDED . BUT THE PAST FEW YEARS ( AND BEYOND FOR ANYONE THAT ’ S STRUGGLING WITH THEIR PHYSICAL OR MENTAL HEALTH ) HAVE BEEN TOUGH ; LET ’ S FACE IT , LIFE CAN BE TRICKY AND SOMETIMES EVEN FOR THE MOST ACTIVE OF DOERS , THE IDEA OF ACTION CAN SOMETIMES FEEL OVERWHELMING . MAKING A HEALTHY CHANGE DOESN ’ T NEED TO MEAN RUNNING A MARATHON OR LEARNING MANDARIN , WHICH IS WHY IN 2023 , WE ’ RE SUGGESTING YOU GO EASY ON YOURSELF . SMALL STEPS TO SELF- IMPROVEMENT WILL GO A LONG WAY ; BE KIND TO YOURSELF AND EASE INTO A HEALTHIER , HAPPIER POST-PANDEMIC YEAR .
If you ’ re feeling a bit overwhelmed personally and struggle to order your thoughts and find a path through when things get tough , journaling is a brilliant place to start and can really help with personal clarity . Essentially a modern buzzword for writing a diary , to journal is to write down any struggles or fears you might be feeling without judgment or shame , and where you can make a record of any thoughts , feelings , goals and reflections so when you ’ re feeling a little lost , you can have a look back and remind yourself how far you ’ ve come and where you ’ d like to go . Whether you choose to write daily , weekly , or just when you feel like it , journaling can be a powerful form of expression , reflection and exploration , and helps to manage anxiety and stress because it encourages prioritisation of any problems or concerns and is a great way to track any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognise triggers and learn ways to alleviate them . the state of being grateful and involves expressing thanks or appreciation for something whether that be a kind gesture from a stranger to the gift of life itself . Practicing gratitude is all about recognising the positive things in your life and how they affect you and it ’ s entirely subjective ; one person could be grateful for something as serious as recovering from a debilitating illness , while another could be grateful for the feeling of the sun on their face – reasons to be grateful are not set in stone and will naturally change and that ’ s okay . There are so many ways you can practice gratitude from noticing the little things in life that make you happy or telling someone you ’ re thankful for them , to gratitude mapping , which is creating a visual mood board of all the things you ’ re grateful for , and doing something thoughtful for someone you love .
You may have heard the term ‘ gratitude ’ being bandied about as something we could all benefit from putting into practice more regularly too . So , what does it mean ? Gratitude is simply defined as
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