Wellbeing has to be daily

Last week I delivered a webinar to teachers on ‘Improving Wellbeing, Physical Activity and Academic Performance in Schools’ and I was so grateful that over 70 teachers signed into the webinar and were able to take something from it.

All three of these areas are interlinked, but when looking at wellbeing, the big message that I wanted to get across is that is must be performed daily.

Wellbeing in schools, at home, or in the workplace, is not something that you can just read or talk about, get a general grasp on and then think ‘that’s it, I’ll be happy now’. It doesn’t work that way. To look after your own wellbeing, you must practice it daily.

This doesn’t mean that we have to sit in silence for hours and try to connect with one’s self. Looking after your daily wellbeing may be something as simple as taking two to three minutes in the morning to write out three things you are grateful for or gaze out the window and see everything that is wonderful around and in you. It’s all about living in the ‘present’ or the ‘now’.

Whatever word you want to use, you are really focusing on that very moment. You’re not looking into the future or digging out your past; You are living, feeling, and exploring the present. When we do this, we connect with a higher power within ourselves.

You can call it God, faith or energy, but during this time you are connecting with it.

You aren’t worried that the kids aren’t out of bed, or if you don’t leave the house in five minutes, you’ll be stuck in traffic. The more we can live in the present and the less we force thoughts and feelings, the more we get done.
Whenever you are in a state of ease or in your ‘flow’, that’s when things happen.

Take, for instance, when I’m writing this article every week: At the start of the week, I will let an idea come to me on a topic that I will cover. I don’t go looking or searching for it, it comes to me. I’ve nearly 10 years of practice doing this, and then I let the idea manifest in my head; I don’t take any notes. When I go to write my article, I put my phone away, open the page and start to type. Most days it will just flow, others it may take a bit longer, but again I don’t force it, I just let it happen.

Now it wasn’t always like this, like I said, I have nearly ten years of practice and I haven’t always been this focused on the task at hand. Sometimes writing this could have taken nearly a full day or spread over several days to get it completed, because I was either forcing it or not focusing on the one task at hand.

Through my own daily wellness, I have increased my level of awareness in all areas of my life, not just my focus on work. In no way shape or form have I got it fully worked out and that’s why I still focus on my own wellbeing every day. I take the time to write in the morning, meditate, go for a walk and study on me and my mindset.

When is the last time you took some time for you? No phone, no TV, no music, no distractions, just you. We seem to get lost in trying to put others before us, worrying about the past, focusing on the future instead of letting go and living in the present.

You may not agree with me on any of this, or you may be someone who has tried ‘working on yourself’ already, and it didn’t work. I would ask you to give it another go, and make it a daily habit.

For example, people say that they tried mediating, and it doesn’t work, but often they have only tried it once or even for a week.

I have been meditating for over three years now, and in the past year, it has only become a habit that I do every day. Some days I don’t feel like doing it, or I don’t feel I got anything from it, whereas other days it may ignite something within. The thing is, that I keep doing it and it helps improve my wellbeing everyday.

If I were to ask you to go into the gym and squat a realistic but heavy weight that you know you couldn’t lift at that moment, then you may fail. But if I were to give you a target that in six weeks I want you to train every day to lift that weight, there would be a far higher chance of you being able to lift the weight in six weeks’ time.

If we consistently stick at a task that we know is going to improve us, then we will start to see results. If we dabble in and out of it, then that is going to have a reflection on the results we get.

If you want to look after your own wellbeing, then start with your results. What are the results saying about you? Do you worry and stress about what others think? Are you always tired? Do you hate the job or life you’re living? Are you always emotionally digging up your past? Do you feel like you are stuck and can’t move anywhere.

Then focus on your daily wellbeing and make sure it is daily.
If you don’t know where to start, then here are a few ideas that will set you on the right path. Choose one of these to focus on at a time.
• Write a gratitude list – between three and ten things every day
• Keep a journal – write out how you are feeling
• Write out a goal, something big you want to achieve and do this every day – the goal will never change but how you get there might
• Go for a short walk outside
• Move the body first thing in the morning – stretch, yoga, dance or just jump around
• Meditate – I follow the Headspace app daily
• Get up and make your bed
• Say out loud or into yourself all the wonderful things about you and what amazing talents you have
• Spend time with family
• Laugh
These are only a few ideas, pick something that you can do every day, stick with it and you will soon see improvements in your own wellbeing and those who are closest to you.