It’s another New Year and many of us have already jumped into our respective sets of New Year’s resolutions. There are some people though who are still reeling from the events of 2015. If this includes you, here are three ways how you can get back on your feet and start 2016 right.
- Manage Your Personal Connections
Often, the stresses that burden us are borne from unhealthy relationships, be it with a lover, a family member, a friend, a colleague, or just someone that we interact with regularly. Look back on the times you felt stressed in the past year and see if it was caused or aggravated by particular people, and make it a point to reduce your times to them. You don’t have to cut them off from your life (unless they’re abusive, of course), but you need to find time away from them to get your emotional bearings back.
- Eliminate Habits That Control Your Life
If you’ve read Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, then you know how helpful habits could be in improving our lives. However, not all habits are beneficial. In fact, we often fall into habits that are good at first – for example, a few minutes on social media to help us get connected – but develop into harmful habits that ultimately take control of our lives, such as obsessively checking posts on Facebook or Twitter. Perform a “habit check” and try to reduce, if not eliminate those that are not actually helping you live a happier and fuller life.
- Know This: It’s Okay to Take a Break
Many of us are chasing so many goals at the same time – for example, get more money, meet more people, and (ironically) become happier – that we end up participating in a rat race where we just do one task after another, never pausing to consider whether we are in fact enjoying what we’re doing. If this sounds like your life, make it a point to find a time to take a break and re-align your priorities. We can do so many things, yes; but we can only do so much at the same time.
So think: Who do you really want to spend more time with? What do you really enjoy doing in your life? Why are you pushing yourself so hard, and is it really worth it?? Answer these and you might just find a better way to live your life.
