Most often, we handle all these situations with ease. But once in a while something happens. Something you can’t put your finger on. Your radiant smile has lost its glimmer; the spring in your step is feeling flat. Maybe you’re more tired than normal and the usual 40 oz macchiato doesn’t seem to be doing its job. The job you love and have been doing with light and ease is feeling murky and difficult. You may ask yourself, “How did I get here?”
Are you crazy? Maybe a little. But your “good crazy” actually helps to keep you sane in this crazy world. Don’t despair, we all go through it. I have complied some tips below that will totally help you get back on track. Not every tip will work for everyone, but if even just one of these things helps you, then this was definitely worth the read.
1. Clear your head. Often, negative thoughts start a snowball effect in our minds. Something like, I have 99 problems and 86 of them I have invented myself. If you feel the negativity creeping in, go for a walk, or if you can, take a “mental health” day off. Give yourself a “me” day simply to recharge and refresh.
2. Read a good book. There are so many great, inspiring authors that are not only motivating but will absolutely help to get you back on track. Oldies but goodies like John Maxwell, Brian Tracy, and of course Zig Ziglar come to mind. Newbies like Brendon Burchard, Simon Sinek and David Marquet are absolutely worth checking out.
3. Exercise. Obviously, exercise is healthy but it also is a great way to improve your work attitude and increase your happiness because it not only enhances your energy but will improve your mood and absolutely reduce stress by releasing those warm and fuzzy endorphin's. I myself haven’t ever stepped into a gym (my husband is our daily gym rat) but we have started cycling on our days off and it really works! So take a walk, run, ride- whatever get that body moving!
4. Lighten up! We are all guilty of being most critical of our own selves. Sometimes it is ok give yourself a break and not take things so seriously. Laughter truly is the best medicine, and as the adage says, if you can’t laugh at yourself, call me I’ll laugh at you!
5. Meditate Of course meditate made it to my list and you’re probably saying to yourself right now “yup cross that one off- no time for that here” I gotcha, no worries. Yes, sitting quietly in a candle lit room smelling of sandalwood for an hour finding your Zen sounds awesome. If you have the time, great! There are some great tutorials to be found on YouTube to get you started. For the rest of us, meditation can be that 5 minutes you steal for yourself and find a quiet place close your eyes and just breathe. You can even tell yourself to “find my center” or find a positive phrase or mantra that works for you. Practice this when you can and believe me you will feel a difference. Remember the key to meditation is not to control your thoughts, it is not allowing your thoughts to control you.
6. Get Inspired. Different people are motivated in different ways by different things. Some people get motivated by loud music and others by scrolling the internet for inspirational quotes. So find what inspires you and go do it, listen to it, read it-you get the idea.
7. Find a Mentor. Is there someone either at work or in your personal life that you look up to? The most successful people do have the best of the best of the best as mentors. Learn as much as you possibly can from those who want to share their wisdom and are willing to lead you on your road to success.
So, if you find yourself overwhelmed or stressing out, I hope one or more of these tips have resonated with you. Just remember, you are a Rock Star, the peaks and valleys of life are going to happen. So ride with the tide and shine your light!!!