Guest Blogger - for a Better Tomorrow
Posted by EMMA STEVENS
Everyone wants to be happy, successful, fit, healthy and surrounded by loving friends and family. And yet, so very few manage. In fact, Daily Hive notes that Canada fell to its lowest point on the World Happiness Report in 2021. If you’re deeply unsatisfied with your life or plain struggling, for whatever reason, don’t despair – there’s hope for you yet. By making simple changes to the way you think, feel, believe, and do, you can build a better tomorrow for yourself. Things can always get better.
Untamed outlines what you should STOP doing right now to create a more positive future for yourself:
Stop indulging in negativity
Nothing kills possibilities like negativity. It destroys your self-confidence and pushes you away from the most meaningful of activities and relationships. Having negative thoughts and feelings is a part of life. Don’t be stuck there, though. Ask yourself if your negative thoughts hold water. Stop resisting negative events to create room for change.
Stop spending so much time indoors
With modern-day sedentary lifestyles, it’s normal to spend the majority of our days indoors. Being indoors makes you unhappy – your body misses sunlight, trees, and fresh air. Nature is a great cure for unhappiness – it boosts your mood and takes away stress.
Stop staying up late
Getting enough sleep is essential to your overall wellness, so make it a point to turn back the clock when it comes to bedtime. Having a bedtime routine where you listen to soft music or soothing sounds like rushing water or white noise can help you wind down. Consider treating yourself to a quality speaker for your nightstand to listen to whatever you find calming at night before drifting off.
Stop eating poorly
The food you eat influences your mood and energy levels. If you eat poorly every day, you’re going to feel poorly every day, and never have the energy or enthusiasm for fulfilling activities and things. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be hard, says the CDC – use smaller plates, put more greens on your plate, and balance your comfort foods with healthy eats.
Stop spending carelessly
It takes time, energy, good health, and stability to make money – all commodities in limited supply. Too many people spend carelessly and pile on the debt, which they then struggle to pay back. It can be a vicious, never-ending loop. Be careful with your finances to give yourself security.
Stop being afraid of change
So many people stubbornly cling to people, places, jobs, habits, and activities. They’re afraid of letting go, afraid of not having and losing. It’s important to make your peace with change – it’s a part of life, and the only constant you can rely on. It’s also important to see that change isn’t negative – it always eventually leads to better things. Only when things change will you realize your dreams.
Stop comparing yourself to others
There will always be people who have more money, fame, and success than you. Stop comparing yourself to them. Everyone starts at a different place, has different challenges to face, and things don’t always work out for everyone. The grass is always greener. Does that mean you should stop striving for better things? Not at all – as Thrive Global puts it, compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today.
Stop being undisciplined
Finally, true change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s made up of small changes, stacked up on top of each other. It requires discipline – which is the ability to say no to what you want today so you can have what you want even more tomorrow. Learn how to make the most of your day and make it your new routine for a better future.
Often, we develop self-defeating thought patterns and ways of doing and being, some of them forced onto us by a family or society that doesn’t know better. The biggest favor you can do yourself is to get rid of the harmful conditioning that’s holding you back. It’s your ticket to a better life for you and, through your example, your loved ones.
Elena Stewart
image via Unsplash