For a lot of us, Winter has been a long, hard slog; the weather has been rubbish (surprise, surprise), COVID has still been running amok as it approaches its second birthday, and time seemed to slow to a crawl for most of January and February as it often does. So, as Spring slowly begins to peek round the corner to say hello, we thought we’d share our top tips to help ‘Spring Clean’ your mood and give your wellbeing a much needed boost as we head full steam into March!
- Declutter Your Space: although our aim here is to spring clean your mood rather than your home, you’d be surprised by just how closely linked the two can be! Oftentimes, when our minds are busy, our environment can become busy too, which in turn can start to make us feel even more penned in and overwhelmed, thus creating a pretty vicious cycle. We know the thought of trying to completely clear your entire home can be quite daunting, so rather than adding that whole pie to your already full plate, we recommend starting with a small, manageable slice instead. For maximum effect, choose a space or room you use most, whether that be your bedroom, your lounge, or maybe just the desk you work at; you’ll be amazed by how much clearer your mind feels afterwards.
- Get Moving: when we talk about mental wellbeing, we tend to focus our attention on our brains and often overlook the impact physical health and activity has on our mood. We aren’t suggesting you start marathon training as part of this spring cleaning exercise, though – unless, of course, that’s a goal of yours. Start by trying to incorporate a ten minute outside walk into your day just to get out and have some fresh air, even on days you really don’t want to. In our experience, those hard days are the ones where you’ll benefit from that walk the most!
- Celebrate the Little Wins: when we’re feeling low, it’s easy to fall into a bit of a ‘black hole’ mentally where we feel like we’ve achieved nothing all day and have nothing to show for ourselves as a result. One way to combat this is to keep a note of what you have done that day, even if it doesn’t feel like much at the time. Some days, your list might be surprisingly long, but during darker days you might have only managed to get out of bed or shower; either way, celebrate that win and give yourself something to look back on and prove to that nasty voice in your head that you did, in fact, achieve something after all. This focus on positivity should help boost your mood and act as a bit of a torch to cut through the gloom.
- Have a Cuppa: we here at Employees Health are big advocates for talking about our problems and sharing the mental load with others, but sometimes a simple light-hearted catch-up with a friend over a cup of coffee or tea can have an even bigger impact on our mood than we expect. So, if life has been getting in the way of date night with your partner or you’re long overdue a chat with a friend, set some time aside to make those plans reality – it might just be the break you’ve both been needing!
For more tips and tricks on how to boost your mood both in and out of the workplace, get in touch with our team of experts by clicking the link below and we’ll be more than happy to help.