The time we have spent living at a slower pace has gifted us time to reflect on what is important. PeopleSense by Altius Registered Psychologist, Amanda Brown, explains why now is the ideal time to establish habits for wellbeing and provides 5 key strategies to get you started.
A state of wellbeing: not just the absence of disease, but a sense of happiness, contentment and engaging in healthy behaviours.
Wellbeing is a complex combination of a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Achieving good wellbeing can be challenging at the best of times, let alone in the constantly shifting environment we find ourselves living in.
A healthy habit is any behaviour that benefits your physical, mental, and emotional health. Our habits therefore are the building blocks of our wellbeing. Attempts to control the COVID-19 virus have caused large shifts to our usual way of life. The time spent living at a slower pace has caused many of us to re-think how we are spending our time. It has taken us away from our daily habits, good or bad and has left many of us to reflect on what is important.
While Australia is fortunate to have parts of our usual life restored, we are once again looking to juggle daily demands, which may include returning to work or study in some capacity, sending children to school and being able to get back out into our communities. This return to usual life, while positive in general, can also add to stress – which may stem from concern about how to juggle competing priorities again or from the threat of contamination.
As restrictions ease in varying degrees around the country, we are once again needing to adapt. This can be a good time to “reset” and establish good health habits which will support you to create a life with enhanced wellbeing. So how can you establish good habits to support your wellbeing?
1. Know what matters
Consider planning out your day with a combination of healthy behaviours and actions that are connected to what really matters to you. This includes finding time for yourself in all aspects of your life and living life according to your values. You may need to start this process by spending time to identify your values.
Values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They help you to determine your priorities, goals and direction in life. Perhaps you can ask yourself, was there a time in your life when you felt that you experienced good balance? What were you doing? What contributed to happiness in this circumstance? What gives your life meaning or what do you want to achieve in life? The answers to these questions will help you to start to form an idea of what is important to you and what will bring you happiness.
2. Choose keystone habits
Keystone habits are healthy habits that automatically lead to multiple positive behaviours and positive effects in different areas. Common keystone habits are behaviours like getting enough sleep, exercise, fuelling your body well, getting social and practicing mindfulness. For instance, practicing mindfulness has accumulative benefits for coping with stress and overtime leads to changes in the brain which support better emotional regulation. Consider starting with keystone habits to achieve enhanced vitality and energy to support you with other goals and actions.
3. Set small, achievable goals and repeat
As we are transitioning into a world with reduced restrictions on movement, but continued changes to how we live, we will again be facing a shift from automatic behaviours to having to think deliberately about what we are doing. Setting ourselves up for success means being realistic about what behaviour change we can achieve. Rather than expecting yourself to do everything to a gold standard, set small goals that feel almost easy, but are repeatable. Perhaps your starting point is a regular sleep schedule or getting out in the sun at lunch. If this plan does not work, consider how you can break this task down into smaller steps to help you tackle the goal the next time around. Aim for progress, not perfection.
4. Review and reflect
Often in today’s world, there is the push to be productive much of the day. However, research indicates we are more likely to succeed in our goals if we spend time understanding what we are doing and why.
Understanding triggers to your behaviours will give you a much better vantage point for creating some change. For example, rather than automatically opening the fridge to have another snack you do not need, reflecting on what is prompting you to do this behaviour, such as boredom, will help you increase awareness to be able to make future changes.
5. Plan ahead
Research shows that planning to execute a behaviour results in an increased likelihood of success. For instance, if you want to walk in the mornings, getting your workout clothes ready the night before increases the likelihood of getting out the door. Consider what actions you can do ahead of time to set yourself up for success.
It takes time to achieve a good state of wellbeing and healthy habits. PeopleSense psychologists are here to support you to enhance your wellbeing. Consider reaching out to proactively enhance your health – visit us at PeopleSense By Altius.
