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Lifestyle May 04, 2023
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Someone once came up with a timeless piece of advice for those of us who feel we’re racing along the path of life and not really enjoying it: stop and smell the roses. That expression was coined way back before self-help was a thing, before lifestyle coaches had invented themselves, in a time when people got on with life and didn’t complain. Nobody talked about healing themselves from long-buried traumatic events or looking after their mental health. Thank goodness, we live in more enlightened times. Now it is good to take care of ourselves, and here are ways to do it.
Write it Down
Ever thought about writing your memoirs? You don’t have to be famous to do that. You’re not aiming to write a best-seller, and it doesn’t matter if no one else ever reads it. It will put your life in perspective. Start it where you are now. Chapter one: Well, here I am battling through my life. But how did I get here? Let’s go back to the beginning. I was apparently a beautiful baby and the apple of my mother’s eye.
Don’t Forget the Good Parts
It is tempting to see the bad episodes as more noteworthy, but that is not the case. Part of managing burnout is to remind yourself of the fun times, those who made you laugh, the ones you loved, and the ones who loved you, the vacations that seem like they’re from another life. Remember when you were that smiling person in the old pictures. What made you happy?
Reboot
Could you turn the clock back or, in today’s computer terms, do a factory reset? Get back to You 1.0, the original and best version? Or is 1.0 not the best after all? Maybe you need version 1.1 or 2.0. Perhaps you should combine some of those original attributes with new ones designed to cope with an ever-changing world. That might mean starting something new.
Find a new hobby. Read books again, rather than just the meaningless snippets you see online. Surround yourself with good people, positive characters. It may be hard to apply this measure to your friends, but they can remain friends if you get your influences someplace else. Literally stop and smell the roses. Go to a park and enjoy nature as that can put your life in context.
Fund Your Reboot
Assuming you don’t have an undertow of existing debt, this new attitude of yours may need funding, so identify how much you will need and find a lender to take out a personal loan. Make it a sensible amount that you can afford to repay over a certain period and get it from a reputable lender. Don’t get involved in anything that could come back to haunt you. Remember that generations of students got through college only with the help of a student loan, and that may be your own story.
But you paid it off in the end, and with the life experience you have gained since then, you can accomplish the trick better this time around. Think of it as a step up to a new level where people think positively and expect success, but also are prepared to work for it. Use it to get happy, and if that means taking a breather first, to recharge and come back energized and ready to take on the world, do that. If you use it to start a new venture that could make money, that’s cool. Write a business plan, which means thinking the whole thing through, and be realistic. Allow yourself to be optimistic, but not deluded.
Make it Count
Here’s another old saying: today is the first day of the rest of your life. So, make yourself a solid platform and build on it. But don’t forget to give yourself a break too. Look at this new chapter as an opportunity to get things right, and don’t go down the same path that you got stuck down before.
Remember there is this definition of madness: repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result. But that shouldn’t be confused with perseverance. The high jumper who does no training but expects to somehow get over the bar eventually is going to fail. But the one who trains, improves factors like technique, diet and fitness can reasonably expect to achieve the goal.
