Five wellbeing tricks for when life feels out of control

I love your column and your advice so I really hope you can help me! I know I need to focus on my wellbeing as my life feels a bit out of control at the moment. If there were just a few things I could focus on to feel better and improve my general sense of being well, what would they be? Thanks for your advice. Sandra, Sales Exec

I know exactly what this feels like as I spent a large chunk of my life existing in this space. I am sure it feels like you are moving through your hectic days in a blur, meeting everyone’s demands except your own. And perhaps you go to bed at the end of it all feeling like you have been through the rinse cycle too many times and left hung out to dry.

When you feel like this, the very last thing you need is a list of 500 things to focus on. So, keeping it simple, I’ve listed below five ways you can bring some much-needed wellness into your life. Start with whatever feels right and where your energy flows, and then build from there. I often tell my clients to think of the smallest thing they could do today to bring about some positive change. Keep that mind as you read through my suggestions.

1. Get your sleep. Sleep is numero uno on this list because it can have a more profound impact on how you feel than almost anything else. Sleep can be the first thing to go when you get busy, but it is absolutely critical to your wellbeing. Once you build a healthy sleep routine, you will never compromise on it again.

   Here are some tips to get the beauty sleep you need:

   · Create a bedtime ritual to wind your dial down. Mine starts an hour before bed, with a cup of herbal tea, some light reading, then meditation before sleep. The routine helps the mind and body wind down and get ready to slumber.

   · It is important to get to bed by 10.30pm whenever possible as the sleep before midnight is worth double the hours after it.

   · Really try and get 7-8 hours consistently. A good nights sleep can change everything.

2. Nourish yourself. We hear so often that we are what we eat. The truth is that while we may reach for the carbs or the sugar when we feel stressed out and tired, it is the very worst thing we can do. The key things I recommend to get your body zinging include:

   · Drink a green juice or smoothie every day (see my website for recipes)

   · Cut out the white stuff and all processed foods

   · Get off the crack that is sugar, in all forms

   · Limit your caffeine to one a day

   · Watch your alcohol intake
3. Make time to restore. As a woman you can spend so much time taking care of everyone else that you can end up feeling ragged. It is so important to build in restoration moments to recharge yourself and to save you from burning out. I have been there and it is not a place you want to visit. Think about what you can do for yourself that will leave you feeling refreshed. It could be a bubble bath, a quiet moment with a cup of tea, a yoga pose like legs up the wall pose, or a mini meditation. The key is to do these things regularly, not just when you feel like you are breaking point.
4. Take a meditation break. Meditation. It is such a simple word, yet it puts the fear of God into so many people. But it doesn’t need to be so scary. So much research has been done into the power and benefits of meditation on the brain, the body and everything in between. It is a practice that can be life changing, so it is worth persevering. To start, all you really need to do is just sit down, close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath. Follow your breath as you inhale and exhale through your nose. Start with 5 minutes and see how you go. That’s it. Build a practice twice a day, or whenever you need to bring in some peace and calm, and you will always have a powerful tool to heighten your wellbeing. It is as close as your breath.
5. Rethink Stress. There is a chapter in my book called ‘There is no stress, only stressful thoughts’. You can read it to get the full gist, but the key is that the way we think about what goes on around us, is really where the stress comes from, often not the event itself. If you can change the way you think, you can dramatically change your stress levels. Every thought you think is creating your future. Start watching the thoughts you think and the language you use, including the voice inside your head. When you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, or you hear the voice that continually tells you how stressed you are, stop. Use your breath to slow down and choose a different thought, a positive affirmation, to break that downward spiral. Your nervous system will thank you for it.

You are in control of your wellbeing, even when you don’t feel like you have control over anything. If you try these strategies and you still don’t feel great, then I would check in with your doctor, and also with a great naturopath, to see if there are any underlying issues or whether some naturopathic support could help your system.

For more tips like these, check out my book Getting Real About Having It All at my website.