The Process of Making Yourself A Priority Again

It’s easy to go along with life and not stop to smell the roses. While this is happening, we are susceptible to stress. Most of us have to deal with juggling a career, kids, a social life, and somehow everything else. The world has set expectations for us in work environments based on competition.

For example: If someone else does better, we beat ourselves up about it and strive to improve. We live for that confirmation that comes in different packages. That constant need 'to do' is fatal to our mental health, rather we realize it or not.

No need to fear. A quick fix is here! Typically, it’s hard to stop and enjoy the little things with so many monumental changes in the world. A good morning routine, or night routine, whichever fits your schedule, could help apply a bit more gratitude in your life—in turn, making you that much more stress-free and able to focus on things you love with a clear mind.

Rule of Thumb -

1. Quiet Time: It doesn’t matter if you’re washing your face, brushing your teeth, or taking a shower, breathe. Take a couple of deep breaths in and out, preferably 10 seconds each. Focus on your breathing, nothing else. Witness the way it makes your nostrils feel or the way that it touches the skin beneath your nose. Focus on that for about 5 minutes. Doing this keeps you in a state of mindfulness, making you a bit more aware of your surroundings. Everything seems to slow down around you, and the world is not racing a thousand miles a minute.

2. Pleasing yourself: What is the first thing you do when you have another moment alone with your thoughts? Instead, its fix a coffee, make breakfast, let the dog out, or get the kids up. You can do this next step. Keep your breathing steady, but let your mind relax. Think of something happy, or something you’ve wanted to do. Get so deep in thought that you can’t help but smile. Walk with a purpose, and hopefully, get inspired to do whatever that thing is that makes you happy. If we are quarantined or not, it’s imperative to make time for yourself. You have to please you!

3. Don’t be hard on yourself: I’m sorry to break this to you; you are only human! I KNOW, doesn’t feel like it. Being exceptional at everything you do is a great goal to set, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not realistic. The word perfection was not designed to describe humans but made to define words like food. Like food, it represents anything that can be made in one way, based on a single recipe. While we are technically one person, there’s not one recipe put into making you, you. There are a bunch of things that go into making the resilient beings we become over time.

Nothing in life is immediate! Although, they can happen faster if you stop fighting it. Being stressed about anything is ultimately fighting what is inevitable. Whatever happens, happens, and like the boss human you are, you’ll fix it.

Train the mind to act when needed, and keep clouded thoughts at bay by regulating your breathing. Take in the good and bad, and let the good affect you positively. Other ways of feeling better to regain focus may be to change diet, exercise, or meditate. The practice of mindfulness can come in many forms!