Bronwen Sciortino: author & simplicity expert teaching easy ways to tailor-make healthy, happy & highly successful lives. sheIQ Life Pty Ltd
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Holidays are meant to be a time of rest and relaxation, but the holiday season seems to become busier and busier as the years roll by. In the blink of an eye the time is gone, and you’re left facing the arrival of the New Year and the expectation that you need to do things differently so you can achieve at a much greater rate. But you’re exhausted! And worse, you can’t even begin to find the energy to work out what solves your problems, let alone what gets you ahead. And yet, the reality is this: Unless you do some things differently, then everything will stay the same.
Here’s some good news: You don’t have to spend days strategically planning your next move, commit to a full-on exercise training plan, completely overhaul your diet or throw out your entire life to experience things in a different way. Despite what you may have been led to believe, you’re not broken. You don’t need "fixing," and you don’t need anyone else to provide you with a costly solution (that you’re most likely not going to finish or get any benefit from). You’ve simply gotten yourself slightly off track. It only takes one or two small tweaks, implemented by taking a few simple steps, to turn your life in a completely different direction. And that’s really all you need right now—a direction change. Not a whole-life reboot.
Recognize that you’re tired, but know that you can do it. When you’re tired, everything seems harder. You have less energy, and your body is in a stressed state. So it’s demanding that you eat differently because it thinks your life is under threat, and it wants food that produces immediate high-energy bursts. You’re wired, so you find it harder to sleep, and you’re more likely to have a compromised immune system as a result. Until you break this stress cycle, you will stay living this way—each day building on the stress of the previous.
It takes conscious effort to get yourself out of this cycle. The age-old saying “If you want things to change, you have to change some things” has never been truer. You have to take a step and do something differently so that you can experience things in a different way. Otherwise, you’re simply sitting where you are, wishing things were different but not giving yourself any opportunity to experience life in another way.
The holidays are the perfect time to forge a new path so that you can step into the New Year on the right foot.
Here are a few simple ways you can use this time to supercharge your New Year experience:
1. Concentrate on sleep.
Sleep is a critical component for your well-being. Quality sleep protects your mental, physical and emotional health and helps keep your immune system and gut health strong. Use the holidays to catch up on sleep and then create a sleep routine for moving forward. This is a great way to help you experience the New Year differently.
2. Nix the noise.
Ignore the loud and obnoxious marketing campaigns that tell you all the reasons you should punish yourself for enjoying your time away from work. There’s no rule written anywhere that says you need to punish yourself for enjoying your time with family and friends. So relax and have fun without any recriminations.
3. Get outside.
Spend time outside in what I call green (trees, grass, etc.) or blue (water) zones where nature can help you unwind and relax. It doesn’t have to be strenuous or for long amounts of time. As little as 10 to 20 minutes in a green zone each day can help you reduce your stress by up to 20%.
These three simple things can significantly change the way you experience your life every day. Taking some time during the holidays to create new habits and introduce them into your life can move you to a different starting point for stepping into the New Year. Take five minutes to create a few simple steps you can follow to keep these things in your life every day, and I know from experience that the way you experience the New Year will change as well.
Making changes doesn’t have to be hard, time-consuming or costly. It also has nothing to do with anyone else. Find the solution that’s perfect for you, and that’s the pathway that takes your life in a different direction.
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