You've flipped the mattress and beaten the rugs, but, what are you doing for your mental and emotional well-being? Springtime is a season of renewal, and the perfect time to recharge your mental, emotional and spiritual health. Not sure where to start? Our checklist can give you some ideas:
- Take stock of stress. Stress can come from many sources, and it can have a negative effect on your well-being. If your life is causing you a great deal of stress, make a deal with yourself to change that. Consider dropping obligations that cause you stress but give you few rewards. Make a regular date with yourself for exercise. Exercise helps reduce cortisol levels, leading to lower stress overall.
- What about the rest of your emotional landscape? Think about whether you are generally happy and content, sad, angry, or bored and stuck in a rut. Keeping a mood journal for a few weeks can help. Just make a note of what you are doing and how you are feeling a few times a day. By identifying the times you are happiest, you can get an idea of the ways you would most like to spend your time.
- Make a commitment to pamper yourself. Too many of us spend massive amounts of our time and energy helping other people, but don't take times for ourselves. Schedule skincare appointments or massages. Make time for activities you enjoy like seeing live music or reading a book.
- Perform a check up on your goals. What do you want to accomplish this year? Whether it's learning a foreign language, advancing in your career or losing weight, working toward and achieving goals helps us have a sense of purpose. Make a list of short and long term goals, then begin planning your methods for achieving them. It is best to focus on the actions that you can take rather than an end result. “Enroll in a medical weight loss program” is specific an actionable. “Lose twenty pounds” is not.
