Six ways to Improve Your day
Posted on June 26, 2012 by Elaine Gleeson, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Tips to increase your energy and wellbeing so you can make the most of every day
Everybody has bad days sometimes. Whether your problems stem from your family, your work, your health, or any of the other myriad things that can go wrong in life, everyone knows what it feels like to have a truly awful day. When you’re in the middle of one of these days, you can feel very helpless and out of control. But there are in reality a number of things that you can do to make bad days at least a little better, and many of them aren’t even horribly painful.
The first thing to try is to simply get outside for a little bit. Most of us live our lives in little boxes. We get into a box to drive to work, where we sit in a smaller box until it’s time to return home to our big box. When we live trapped inside all the time, it’s easy for our problems to seem huge. Just getting outside can help us get a little perspective. Take a little walk. Have lunch outside. Just spend a little time seeing the sky and feeling the grass and breathing the fresh air. Even just a little break is frequently enough to help you get the courage you need to return to your problems.
Second, improve your eating habits. Although it’s hard to be motivated to eat well when you’re in the middle of a hard day, it’s worth it. What you eat affects how you feel, which affects how your day goes. Even eating just a little better can help to improve your energy level, your level of comfort, and your overall emotional state. Plus, having the will to eat well is a real achievement, and frequently a bad day can be improved simply by knowing that you’ve done one thing you can feel proud of.
Third, try getting more sleep. Lack of sleep has been tied to depression, irritability, weight gain, and more. Almost every day seems bad when you’re overtired, but getting just a little bit more sleep can help you to keep your sense of perspective and to deal with problems more efficiently and appropriately. Try going to sleep just half an hour earlier and see the effect it has on your day tomorrow.
Fourth, if there’s something you’re dreading, do it first. Things that you don’t want to do can frequently poison your whole day if you let them. So act preemptively. If there’s something that you think will make today a bad day, take care of it first. Then you can have a whole day to recover from it and feel proud of yourself, instead of spending your day stressing.
Fifth, get some exercise. Exercise relieves stress and releases endorphins, and it can help you to feel good about yourself. If you haven’t exercised in a while and aren’t up to much, that’s okay. Every little bit helps.
Sixth, connect with friends. Make a phone call. Send an email. Drop by a friend’s house. Send a text. Often, our human connections remind us why life is worth living, and you’ll be amazed by how much a conversation with a friend can brighten your day. If you don’t have any friends, make some. Introduce yourself to someone, and try to be friendly. The very act of letting go of your worries and reaching out for another person will help your day go better.
