Building Healthy Habits without Feeling Sad
Did you want to get healthy but found yourself skipping meals for some popcorn? Don’t worry, that’s not how you start this journey of healing and forming healthy habits. And, it is much easier than giving up on your weekly burgers and fries.
Today’s world has become a mix of chaos and utter uncertainty. You may have school, work in an office, meet clients, travel for miles on foot every day or worse, face the tantrums of the pandemic era. There are millions of reasons to bog you down. However, your happiness is still in your hands. Well, in your mind to be more appropriate.
In this regard, here are a few quick tips that will help you leave the lethargy behind, and help you build good healthy habits:
1. Wake Up Early:
As the adage holds true, ‘Early to bed and, early to rise, makes Jack happy and wise’, waking up early in the day helps you organise yourself better. You have more time to anticipate the day’s shortcomings, plan alternatives, etc.
Waking up early, with the grader of the morning sun, feels quite empowering too!
How to get started?
Set an alarm or a series of alarms ten minutes apart. Sleep early, and let your body clock adjust itself.
The first few days may feel tasking but in the long run, you will find it difficult to sleep late even on Sundays!
2. Take Regular Breaks:
You may have a job that makes you work all day. You’re not the only one. Most freelancers, artists, chefs, media professionals, among others have long work hours with little relief. However, you must take regular breaks in between.
This will help you gather your thoughts and allow your brain to process all the vagaries of information from it.
How to get started?
Take frequent five or ten-minute breaks every couple of hours. Or, when possible even a 30-second water break. When you stop feeding your brain with the data from your work, even for a moment, the mind tries to make sense of it.
Remember, it’s the power of reason, of understanding that makes humans elite beings, not just reading and working all day like draft animals!
3. Plan Your Day Ahead:
Planning your work for the day ahead ensure you don’t miss out on the fine prints. It will also help you manage time better and be more productive. You will achieve more with less effort and also save your precious time.
This will also give you enough time to understand all the obstacles that you may face while you’re performing the tasks.
How to get started?
Create a diary to store a to-do list for yourself. Write down in shorthand, all the tasks you plan to achieve in the day. Plan ahead, for the week if required. Keep removing the tasks from your to-do list as and when you complete the tasks!
Above all, you’ll notice that striking off each task from the to-do list becomes an inspiration for you to perform more tasks. And, that too with a deal of great focus!
4. Eat a Balanced Diet:
It is probably never stated enough, the importance of a well-balanced meal. The healthier you eat, the healthier you feel. That one time ‘hype’ is actually sustainable, is the current trend towards vegan, organic and nutritious options.
A mix of proteins, good carbohydrates, natural fibres, vitamins and minerals is crucial in this regard. It not only makes your tummy stay healthy but keeps you fresh all through the day.
How to get started?
Start by adding green leafy vegetables to meat meals. Drink enough water to flush out what’s not required by your body. Complement heavy meals with light meals of fresh fruits and nuts.
Moreover, if needed, you can also visit a nearby nutritionist for advice on your special dietary routine.
5. Reach Out for Help when Needed:
You’re wrong if you think you’re weak if you ask for help. You’re a coward if you don’t! Remember, the first step to attaining a mindful and healthy lifestyle is reaching out when you need to. And, it doesn’t always have to be with a therapist or a mental health counsellor. You can also call your best friend or share your feelings with your loved ones.
The sense of comfort your personal relationships can provide is unmatched by any expert. Above all, it’s a universal truth that sharing increases your happiness and decreases your grief!
How to get started?
Call your mom or sign up on our platform and read up on mental health advice for free. Find the right advice for all your weird and uneasy thoughts that make your day feel low.
6. Invest in Your Self-Growth:
Self-growth is fundamental to your overall growth and it is also quite easy. You should always try to balance your work with a period of self-growth. There are many ways to achieve this parity. You can choose to read a book, take up carpentry or knitting, meditate or perform yoga, learn a new skill every month, among others.
Each of these activities serves its own purpose and helps you grow from within. It helps you form newer ideas and stay updated with the norms of the industry.
How to get started?
For starters, you can try to wake up early and practise mediation for 30 minutes. Although it may seem easy, it is not from the get-go. You’ll realise that you are not being able to meditate for a long time in the beginning. But, you can always start with a short period if such an issue arises.
You can also take up regular jogging if your issues with meditation are persistent.
7. Quit Your Addictions:
It is easy to say “I’m not addicted, I can quit it whenever I want.” Perhaps, you’ve heard regular smokers say so quite often. But, it’s the journey that is tough. Most of those who are addicted to some form of substance undergo severe mental health issues. And, the withdrawal symptoms only make them worse. This often leads to the loss of appetite, confidence, productivity and low self-esteem.
However, it is key to maintaining a healthy habit that you devise a path to quit all your addictions. And remember, your first day in this journey will always be the hardest.
How to get started?
Start by talking to someone who has been through addiction-related issues. You can sign up on online mental wellness platforms or visit your counsellor.
Taking up leisurely activities, sharing your emotions, working regularly helps minimise the ill effects of such a drastic step in your life. But, ‘One Day’ or ‘Day One’; the choice is yours!
8. Get Enough Sleep:
Sleep is one of the most important parts of your everyday life. It is the time when your mind heals and processes all the data it received throughout your wake. Sleep improves your cognitive ability to think, react and analyse data in ways more than one. It is recommended that you get at least four to six hours of undivided sleep every night.
How to get started?
Eat a light dinner and sleep earlier than usual. Keep away electronic devices and all addictions prior to sleep. This will help you fall asleep faster.
In case, your inability to sleep has reached a clinical level, it can be treated as insomnia by a mental health expert. The key is to take small steps towards adjusting your sleep cycle to fit it in within your daily schedule.
9. Stay Active to Stay Fit:
Staying active is one of the prime ways in which you can build good fitness routines and stay healthy. It helps you build a strong cardio-cycle, burn excess calories and fat, helps you get refreshed, etc. You can join a gymnasium, take up team sports such as football or hockey that ensures exertion.
And, if you’re a real lazy couch potato, then the dusty old treadmill in your home works just fine!
How to get started?
Staying active is essential if you want to accomplish the tasks you’ve set for a day. To start your activity routine, you can start with 5-kilometre morning walks, or play soccer or any other team sport at least on a weekly basis.
Staying active to stay fit is not about visiting the gym every day. It’s about creating a routine that works for yourself- like a gym for your head and soul too!
10. Track your Progress and Reward Yourself:
When you have taken up the initiative to build a healthy lifestyle for yourself, it is key that you also keep track of it. Without monitoring your progress and growth in the early days, you can’t make the required adjustments that make yield better results in the long run. Tracking your progress is also important to understand whether you are meeting your everyday goals, and where you have the scope to test yourself.
Tracking your progress should be a process rather than an end. When you see you are performing better than before, reward yourself with leisure days. Take time off from work and study, travel the world if you want to!
How to get started?
Keep a check on the number of tasks you are being able to complete per day. And, then check whether the same type of tasks is missed regularly. You can then choose to adjust your routine accordingly.
Remember, your schedule is only as flexible as you can make it; But, you must work towards it. That’s the reward!
11. Be Patient:
Healing and habits take a long time to take shape. Our muscle memory requires practise and patience to register such phenomena. In this respect, remember to be patient with your healing process and with yourself. If you treat yourself with fury, the results will not reflect your effort. You need to give yourself time to build up newer habits from scratch and replace the old ones whenever required.
The fruit of patience is always sweet!
How to get started?
Analyse your everyday experiences. Does any part of it strike you as an odd habit? If you do have a few, don’t fret, try and look for alternatives to that habit of yours. This is one of the best ways to begin the process.
Patience is a virtue. And, it helps you become more mindful in the long run.
Key Takeaways:
There are a million ways to build strong habits that last you a lifetime. A few of them include waking up early, getting enough sleep, eating a balanced diet, giving up your addictions, taking up a leisure activity, regular exercise of some nature, tracking your progress, being patient with the process, among others.
All these habits compound together and help you achieve a healthy lifestyle that you can be proud of. Moreover, it is great for your heart, mind and your body’s entire immune system. Above all, there is enough resource out there for you to seek help from to ease into making such healthy habits a real possibility in a matter of a few days!
