Many of us are currently feeling emotionally drained. Our physical and mental exhaustion is exacerbated by the restrictions and lockdowns we continue to face. This excessive and prolonged stress we are experiencing is leaving us feeling unable to meet the constant demands placed upon us – we’re living in an age of burn out! So what can we do to regain our balance and feel hopeful again?
It’s important that we take time to re-evaluate our options. We need to consider our goals, hopes and dreams. This can be a great opportunity to rediscover what really makes us happy and to slow down and try to give ourselves the time to rest, reflect and heal.
We should be more deliberate to what we commit to. This means regularly revisiting our priorities and making sure they are realistic, still valid and connected to our bigger goals.
Self Help
To maximise stress relief we can try to focus on our bodies rather than our thoughts. We can impact our energy levels throughout the day by making diet, exercise and sleep a priority. Maintaining a healthy life balance is essential for happiness and well-being and it can be a tremendous boost to our productivity.
Look for opportunities to savour the small pleasures of everyday life. It’s key to focus on the positives in the present moment, instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Getting out in the fresh air for a walk, taking pictures, reading a good book – simple pleasures come in all shapes and sizes. It’s good to recognize these moments as they happen. By embracing the small things that bring us joy, we can learn to find contentment in our daily lives.
Who Am I?
When we don’t have hope we have no energy or motivation to change a situation. But by getting to know ourselves a little better, we can first identify what we’d like to change. Self-knowledge can provide us with direction as we try to maximize our efforts at change. It can help us to be more efficient, focused and effective because we’ll know exactly what we need to work on.
We need to understand and use our own emotions in a positive way to relieve stress and anxiety, empathize with others and communicate effectively. Unfortunately without being connected to all of our emotions we can’t begin to fully understand our own behaviour. Even unpleasant emotions can have beneficial aspects, so instead of trying to ignore them we need to learn how to harness them.
Emotions are simply our body’s reaction to what we are thinking, whether it’s on purpose or not. So we may want to change the way we are thinking in order to change our emotion. When we look at things differently the things we look at change.
Journaling can be a great way to create distance between yourself and your thoughts and feelings. Alternatively deep breathing techniques, meditation or yoga can help you to slow down and begin to feel more grounded. Acknowledging our emotions can be the first step to finding balance, but it’s also important to remind ourselves that even bad times end and going through difficult times is all just part of the human experience.