While living a busy life, people fall into routine and habits that often lead to a point where you may ask yourself "when are things going to change?". The truth is, things will not change unless you make it happen. You are in charge of your life and the way that you live. It is up to you to find joy in the things that you do, and to find things to do that bring you joy. Here are a few simple ways to ensure that every day that you live feels fulfilling.
Set Goals Weekly
When each day feels a little bit too repetitive, a good way to change this feeling is through setting small goals each week or even month in order to keep track of your accomplishments. This gives you the ability to show yourself that no matter how similar every day may feel you are still continuously progressing. Every time that you succeed in meeting your goals it provides gratification in knowing that each day you are moving forward.
Romanticize Small Things
If you are unable to find things to look forward to each day, the solution to this is fairly straightforward. Create something to look forward to! Something as small as your cup of coffee (or tea) in the morning can be something to take pleasure in. There are a lot of enjoyable things in a day, but often we forget to pause and actually appreciate these things. With a changed perspective, your frustratingly long commute to work and back could be an enjoyable time period of reflection and good music. It all depends on how you choose to look at it.
Wake Up Early
Getting up early can make a huge difference in what you are able to accomplish during your day. When only getting up in the afternoon it takes away from the amount of time that you have to get things done, because there are only a few hours left until sunset. Not to say that you can not accomplish things after sunset hours, although there are a lot of benefits to doing things earlier. Your brain works a lot better in the morning when you are freshly rested, compared to in the evening when your day has already been lived and you might be much more drained. In the daytime stores are also open and less busy, providing you a better experience if you chose to go out.
Try doing tasks and work in the morning and then compare it to doing it at night. At what time did you accomplish more? When was it easier to focus?
Eat Good Meals
Often, we forget to nourish our bodies properly. When you have somewhere to be it’s not uncommon to only grab something as small as a granola bar and let it carry you through the day till your break that isn’t until many hours later. Whether you feel hungry or not, you should always eat good meals, especially at the beginning of the day. Nourishment and emotions go hand in hand. It will be harder for you to feel good when your body does not have the vitamins and nutrients that it needs. Studies show that a healthy diet leads to increased long term happiness.
Make sure to eat foods such as dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and Omega-3 rich fish because they increase dopamine (our brain’s happy chemical) and stay away from foods with lots of sugar and saturated fats as they decrease dopamine.
Plan Ahead
Making sure to plan ahead goes hand in hand with the first step (setting goals) and is an extremely crucial point. When going through life every day it is important to know what you are doing it for. Reflect on yourself and ask what is it that you truly want. To know what you are working for and towards gives you purpose. It may feel pointless to work every day and have a continuous routine, but if you know why you are doing it it can create a whole new sense of direction.
It is important to try to the best of your abilities to make every day a good one. Live your life to the fullest and take good care of yourself.