Work on yourself

We live in a time where Burger King tells us we can have it our way, the credit companies say we don’t have to wait we can have it now. It is these ideas that has made living today probably the most dangerous of times to live, because it leads to broken relationships, broken businesses and broken dreams.

That happens because the message is that we don’t need to do anything, just find a job that will pay your bills, nothing else matters, systematically we believe that there are plenty of people to hook up with because we can have whoever we want when we want, so this fills our minds enough that we forget about our dreams, the fear we have of them because they seem too big to attain.

But here’s the truth, world order is not all that it’s cracked up to be and the pandemic of 2020 has shown that. Change does happen, whether we accept it or not, the world changes, our communities change, people change, opinions change, and we change too.

We can all be influencers of our lives and the community around us, we can have the relationships we want, the business we want to run with the hours we want to work, so we can enjoy the hobbies we love. But it all starts at home, with ourselves.

This article is about working on yourself. If we spend our time doing this, we become the best possible version of ourselves we attract the right people into our lives as we begin to generate positive vibes outwardly.

To begin a journey of working on ourselves we first must understand how we see the world, what is our right and wrong? It was the author Anais Nin that said, ‘We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.’ It this concept that defines and opens the road of healthy debate and discussion. So, by understanding the world in our own mind, it doesn’t mean we are always going to be right or that we don’t need to discuss, what it does it gives us a starting point.

During the lockdowns of the pandemic, the awareness of mental health made its way up the social agenda. And as important as mental health is, and should never be knocked or underestimated, I think the rise in number of people with mental health issues is down the not being able to fit into the current social norms.

But the situation can only get better when we decide to change. Now I am no psychologist, but as someone who has dealt with my own mental health issues over the years, changing things, behaviours, hobbies and even geographical location have all been of help to overcome mental health hardships. But what we can’t do is stay put in one place, because what I do know is that being alone in our own thoughts can be the most dangerous thing in the world.

Sometimes all we need is a break. A break from our own thoughts, a break from our surroundings, a break from life. The lockdowns of pandemic have not provided space of some to achieve this. People deal with the issues in different ways, smoking, drugs, drink and even crime.

But this list is just forms of escape, they don’t provide solutions. For some there is no real solution to the issues, only suggests. But unless we express our issues there can be nothing, but like everything that we consume, it has to come out in some form and that is where habits form, like the over drinking and crime, they are ways of expressing the demons that torment us.

But we have to remember that not everyone is able to express their demons and issues in words, hence the bad stuff. But we have this saying in the UK, ‘a change is as good as a break’. This is about breaking the rut, the daily routine. When we do the same thing day in and day out it becomes monotonous. Understand that it is ok to have a day doing nothing, but when that day turns into a week or a month or every day off from work then it will start affecting us.

Sometimes when I write these articles I can do 4 or 5 in one go, other times I struggle to complete 1 in a week. I have to go away and do other things, walk, I have taken up walking long distances in a day I will also be heading out to wild camp again soon; learn something new, I have taken up a course in computer programming. Then there is the stuff I do for everyone else. But it all helps, I have my routines, but this all breaks that up or creates variation, so I am not doing the same thing for long periods of time or being given a chance to think too much about negative voice in my head.

Some people go to counselling for their mental health, I have tried it but its not for me. I use my work to express how I feel, I am into the creatives, I have spoken about this before and the link to the website will be in the description box of the video. I also use these articles as away of understanding how I feel and what I think about different things in life.

2018 a £4.5 million program was launched by the UK Health Secretary that would see the arts put on prescription from doctors in an attempt to tackle health issue such as depression, social isolation and even those with complex needs. Activities include drama, singing, visiting museums and creative were all included. These were not about replacing, but instead to be worked alongside conventional therapies and medicines.

So we need to change continually, change our surroundings, our routine, our habits and sometimes the people. its all part of working on ourselves, as we work through our issues in a safe and legal way we begin to attract the right people, the right opportunities and as we begin form new relationships and take new opportunities it will all help in sorting, maintaining and stabilising out wellbeing.