The Long Road Ahead

1. Going for a walk: Going outside for a walk is great it allows you to get fresh air and either you think about things in a different way maybe you get a new perspective on things and when you come back you aren’t as annoyed by things this is also something you can do with friends or you can get into it via local community activity if you are struggling with a routine also good to do whilst listening to music or podcast
2. Reading a book: its calming to just sit down and read a good book it’s great it’s calming I because I like to be out of the house a lot, I go to a café order a coffee or something to eat and just read some of these other points could be also done in a café.
3. Listening to an audio book: listening to an audiobook is great you can do this while doing other things such as walking, gym or housework to name a few and with a content library platform such Audible is great for whatever your needs are!
4. Listening to a podcast: with the rise of these audio/visual platforms to allow people to post audio shows to be listened to while just sitting in your living room or studying or even just on a bus trip for some examples these can be a great way to relax and destress whether the topics be funny or intellectual or both one of my favourite podcasts is the note to self-series with Manoush Zomorodi, platforms that I recommend iOS & Android Podcast Apps, Spotify,
5. Writing down positive quotes: making a scrapbook or writing these down and sticking them around the house or office is good for those boosts of motivation but my favourite process is having a daily journal which I write in every day the up’s and downs and I have pages that I covered in my favourite quotes at the time but I always keep looking for new quotes .
6. Listening to motivation videos: this is something I have gotten into watching more often – more recently the 2 people that I have found that speak to me at this time are Simon Sinek and Gary Vee(Vaynerchuck) I can’t wait till I find the right speech that speaks to me I will play that some other day
7. Listening to music: this is great I like music I like finding artists whose music speaks to me and this is especially key when you are needing to focus or relax our body is so complex that we can associate music with different things as mentioned it could be that I’m out walking and just want to listen to music or I’m at the gym and I’m not doing good I’m tired I might have a playlist of some songs that pump me up and allow to put those reps in or I’m studying and don’t want to hear distractions I just put my headphones on and just chill it’s up to you!
8. Playing games: this one, in particular, is good but not in excess: I would like to say that I really like games as do most of mine and the upcoming generation to play games to relax and chill out maybe play with friends but don’t do this 24/7. – (add more if I can think of it)
9. Talking whether this be to a therapist: friend, doctor, family, or your husband or wife can be great to put things into perspective also these people can calm you down (for those that think you might bother them just remember you would do this for them)
10. Having a schedule: one of the best things I did was create my own schedule it started off in a journal but I was finding trouble keeping notes on everything I had to do so I switched and after trying many different types of time management tools/apps I found one that fit me and it was the easiest to integrate into my daily life which was google calendar which I have linked to my devices.
11. Eating well: This is something that I’m still getting the hang of but I will say that when I’ve been into a rhythm of eating well I’ve felt extremely good but when something throws me off of this it gets me down I will go into this sort of spiral where I would buy bad food (takeout, snacks, etc…) to self soothe but I know that it’s just a passing storm and when i get out of it i will return to eating healthy and exercising to lose that weight that i put on.
12. Mindfulness meditation: I find this great as it has let me be present in my feelings at the moment in a non-judgemental way when dealing with some hard feelings and to truly listen to myself and that may feel like something that is impossible I guarantee you it’s very real and can be done maybe I’ll do a post about this at some point but at this moment you’ll have to take my word for it but this is something that takes practice I’ve been doing this for months (not that should be a brag) but it’s tough to get the hang of include into a daily schedule but it’s a long term process and it’s worth practising and using and there are other ways to use mindfulness when we are out and about (again will probably do a blog post about this in the future) – I recommend Headspace personally as that is the platform I use for meditation.

Disclaimer: please understand that these are mine if you are suffering from mental illness please get in touch with a doctor or therapist you can bring the skills that I have talked about and ask your therapist or doctor if these would be a good fit for you.