15 WAYS TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER
All of us feel tired, overwhelmed, stressed out or just out-of-sorts some days. It’s completely natural to feel like this every now and then but it’s a sign that we need to look after ourselves for a little. If you’re having one of ‘those’ moments and need some simple ideas to get yourself back on track, here are 15 ways to make yourself feel better.
15 WAYS TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER
- Put in your ear phones – Listen to a podcast or some music, something that inspires or relaxes you, takes you out of your own thoughts and to a different place for a while.
- Take a walk – Grab the kids, the dog or go by yourself. Enjoy the fresh air, a change of scene and get your body moving.
- Clear the clutter – Clear all the worktops or table tops in your home, go through your bedside table, or check out these quick declutter projects. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see what you can achieve. It won’t change the world but will instantly make your home feel more manageable.
- Meditate – Take 10 minutes to slow down, focus your mind and block out the noisy world around you.
- Make a cup of tea or coffee – Sit down and enjoy drinking it whilst it’s still warm! Think about what’s making you feel down and what you can do to help lift yourself up when you’ve finished your drink. Sometimes all we need is just some mental space to re-group and find clarity.
- Call a loved one – Have a chat with someone you love, who loves you and makes you feel good.
- Give yourself a home spa treatment – Do your nails, wash your hair, put on some make-up. Do something to boost your feelings about yourself. When you have confidence and think you look good, you tend to feel a little better too!
- Sing and dance – Turn up the music, sing and dance for all your worth! Just changing the vibes can change how you’re feeling and give you an outlet for any difficult emotions. Music can be a great source of therapy!
- Read a chapter of your book or magazine – Take your thoughts to a different place for a while.
- Get creative – Do some colouring, write a short story, write in your journal. Practice mindfulness and being present in the moment. So much of our negative emotions are caught up in how we’re thinking about the past, the future or things that are beyond our control. Be mindful and content being right here, right now.
- Go through your wardrobe – Throw or donate the clothes that don’t fit, are worn out or damaged and that you don’t love to wear. Make space in your wardrobe so you can see what you do have and make it easier and quicker to get dressed next morning. That will take away one decision out of the thousands of others you’ll have to make throughout the day. One less decision means one less drain on your mental energy.
- Write a gratitude list – One of my favourite ways of swapping negative thoughts for positive ones. Jot down 5 things you’re grateful to have in your life and focus on these when you’re feeling down.
- Do something nice for someone else – Send a friendly text, smile at the next person you see, give a hug, write a love-note. Share your love and see what love comes back to you.
- Go for a drive – Either on your own or the kids can come too. Turn up the music, explore your neighbourhood, get out of the house and see where you end up!
- Reset your home – Home is where the heart is and when my home is messy, dirty or chaotic then my mind and heart definitely feel less than peaceful. Have a quick tidy of your home, create a calmer and more organised environment and maybe you’ll be able to find your own inner peace now too.
I hope you find these ideas helpful. Pick and choose which suits you best at the time. Not all of them will work for everybody all the time. It’s about finding what works for you.
ACTION AND DISTRACTION
There’s just a couple of points I wanted to mention…
Action
Many of the tips involve a practical, physical activity. When I’m feeling down for any reason, I try to ‘do’ something.
It could be one of the tips above or gardening, walking the dog, cleaning my home. Anything that stops me thinking inwardly and gets me focusing on moving my body in some way.
Exercise has many great benefits for both body and mind and a quick 10 minutes doing something active definitely seems to help my mind too.
Distraction
The other tip I’ve found which helps is to remove myself from my current thoughts.
So, either get a change of scene by getting out of the house (going for a drive, going for a coffee) or by focusing on something or someone else. It could be practicing mindfulness (focus on eating a piece of chocolate), watching the news or phoning a friend to say hi.
These things take you away from dwelling on your own internal thoughts, even temporarily, and instead make you think of other things, outside of you.
Sometimes we just need a distraction to get us out of a funk.
WHY SELF-CARE IS IMPORTANT
Maybe you’ve heard the saying that you can’t pour from an empty cup, well it’s true! If you’re feeling run down, burnt out or just not quite like your normal self, then how can you be there for anyone else? At the very least, you won’t even be able to live your own best life.
Looking after yourself – physically, emotionally and psychologically, is so important. Life throws many challenges, obstacles and opportunities at us and we need to be robust enough to handle them!
Self-care shouldn’t be seen as a luxury and you certainly shouldn’t feel guilty for finding a little time for you.
“Taking care of myself doesn’t mean ‘me first.’ It means ‘me, too.” (L.R. Knost)
Here are some posts which might encourage and support you to prioritise yourself sometimes (and how to do it!):
YOUR NEXT STEP…
Hopefully these suggestions will give you some ideas for easy ways to look after yourself.
- Self-care doesn’t have to be expensive, time-consuming or impractical for our busy lives.
- What self-care does have to be is effective, simple and sustainable.
If you’d like some suggestions for self-care ideas to incorporate into your daily life, but you’re not quite sure what to do or where to start, then you might like my free short course, Simplify Your Self Care.
Simplify Your Self Care is a completely free week-long mini course with daily challenges and inspiration dropped direct into your inbox every day.
I’ll help you find ways to look after yourself without taking you away from the other important things in your life.
Just simple, intentional self-care tips to incorporate into your day, instead of being something else to add onto your To Do list.
To learn more or join the course, click HERE.