Do you ever see people that always seem happy and wonder how do they do it? As with everything in life, your daily habits make up you who you are, and the outcomes that you get. Building Happy and Healthy habits may sound difficult, but they don't need to be. Here are 5 simple habits to develop that make being happy and healthy much easier!
Choose your focus.
They say you get what you focus on, and health and happiness are no exception. Instead of focusing on what your choices make you miss out on, focus on the things you gain by making your choices. For example- if you have decided to eat more nutritiously, think about how delicious the foods are that you can eat instead of wishing you were allowed to eat the foods that aren't nutritious. Focus on how the nutritious foods make you feel instead of longing for that piece of cake that tastes good in the moment but you know will make you feel terrible later.
The same goes for any change or new habit you want to make- always focus on the current and future benefits, the things you love about it and who you get to become, instead of thinking about what you miss about your old lifestyle. There's a reason you wanted to make that change- make sure you remember it!
Do something regularly and then build on to it
Good intentions rarely get us to where we want to go and I constantly see the all-or-nothing attitude derail the best-intentioned souls. Changing or introducing a new habit can be challenging, so starting with something really easy, done regularly and consistently is a great building block on which to develop long lasting bigger habits.
For example: if you want to incorporate exercise into your life long-term, start by consistently getting out the door 3 days a week. It doesn't really matter what you do once you're out the door- even 10 minutes of walking is enough, but once you develop the habit of getting yourself going 3 times a week, it's easy to build on that habit by increasing the amount or type of exercise you do
Set goals that suit your values AND your lifestyle.
Setting goals is an important habit on it's own, but reaching those goals is an entirely different story when it doesn't fit with who you believe you are or fit into the lifestyle that's important to you.
No goal is realistic if you don't have the time or capacity to reach it. This can be demotivating, so it's much better to set goals that won't make you feel like you're pushing the proverbial sh!t uphill the entire time. Your goals also needs to align with who you are- trying to be someone you're not never ends well and our true values will always win out in the end.
Surround yourself with people that build you up.
There's a saying that goes 'you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with'. When you think of the 5 people you spend the most time with- are they healthy and happy or are they lacking in the zest for life that you're after? I'm not saying you need to stop hanging out with the people that are important to you if they're a bit grumpy sometimes, but sometimes you need to decide whether you want to be like them or not- if not, find some people to hang out with that build you up and inspire you to be the healthy, happy person you want to become.
Be kind to yourself.
When we have big dreams, we often fall into the trap of pushing ourselves hard, and judging ourselves harder. We think that beating ourselves up will drive us to do better next time but the reality is, it just makes us feel worse. Self-compassion -being the attitude that acknowledges that you are human and thus have human tendencies including getting stuff wrong once in a while- actually leads to having more motivation to improve, more self acceptance, less anxiety and insecurity and a stronger sense of purpose and responsibility.
It also gives us the opportunity to reassess our plans and adjust when we need to, instead of giving up and picking a new goal in the hopes we'll simply be better at that goal than we were at this one. True success is being able to persevere in the face of setbacks, and self-compassion allows us to view setbacks as overcome-able obstacles rather than failures and proof that we're not good enough.
If you'd like to set your healthy and happy goals, in a community the builds you up, come along to our next Goal-Setting and Planning Workshop on Saturday the 5th of November in Darlington.
You can find details and book through the button below...
