Last Saturday (10/10/2020) was World Mental Health Day, a day of raising awareness about the many issues relating to mental health. In more recent times, especially during this pandemic and how it’s affected everyone’s way of living, there is a great deal of talk and ‘opening up’ about mental health.
Celebrities and sports people are sharing their stories, illustrating that money and fame may not bring the happiness that many believe it would.
I wish every one would remember that not everything or one is as it/they first appear. Many people are fighting a battle that can’t be seen. My grandmother used to say “always make excuses for people” for when others don’t behave as you would like, or maybe have given a false impression of who they are, or more than likely we have jumped to a conclusion!
I am mostly a positive and upbeat person, choice, and yet during this time of Covid-19, I too have had some low times. My low mood has often been brought about by letting the never ending bad news and sad stories in to my heart and my worries about loved ones, my business and finances take up permanent residence in my head. I have also taken others actions/inactions personally and allowed that to change how I feel about myself. Instead of investing my ‘non-working’ time in to doing the things that help me manage my stress, boost my mood and my health, I was dwelling on all the challenges I (and others) faced. Of course this is the perfect recipe for low mood, so here are the things that help me keep my chin up?
- Choosing to look for the positive and deciding that I want to feel happy and upbeat.
- Managing my thoughts, when I find my mind obsessing or wandering down a negative mind-set, I stop, turn around and choose to focus on my blessings, health, family friends, pets, home DYBO dudes and divas etc.
- Getting a good night sleep, putting in place the actions and habits that help me get good quality sleep. I am a night owl so I have to make myself go to bed and turn off the TV. I also take an epsom salts bedtime bath and have an Inulin drink and magnesium supplement.
- Get out in the woods with my dogs every day, daylight, fresh air and my enthusiastic pups always lift my spirits.
- Stay away from sugar, starchy carbs and booze all of which mess with our blood sugars, gut health, increase inflammation and affect our hormones.
- Exercise and dance daily (either on my own or with my DYBO family), the mood boosting hormones or exercise combined with post exercise hormones lifts our mood and aids a good nights sleep.
- Drink lots of water, it keeps a clear head, clear bowels, clear skin and assists circulation affecting energy and elimination of waste.
- Self maintenance! Get up, shower, do my hair and makeup, slip in to clean clothes, squirt on some perfume and make my bed. Keep my hair dressing appointments and trips to the beautician (those little pamperings help lift my mood and are part of my regular ‘life is normal, life is good routine’ which is an anchor to a positive mindset.
- Keep a tidy work space and home, clutter and mess is both a symptom and cause of a cluttered head.
- Take some ‘time out’ for mindfulness and meditation, I have strange working hours so the best time for me is late afternoon.
- Mute the negative talkers and energy vampires. Avoid sad and miserable TV books and news.
This weeks nature walk with The Pups!
When I do all these things I’m in the best mental and physical place possible.
Now I’m not alone, I saw this on social media and thought I would share it with you!
Written by ‘the couple’s coach’ and shared from Facebook…
‘The habits that keep me (mostly!) in positive mental health.
As it’s World Mental Health day I thought I’d write something topical. Especially as it’s WMH Day against a backdrop of the current Covid situation that, for a lot of people, is perfectly designed to lead to poor mental health. And I started to fall down that rabbit hole myself a few weeks ago. Actually I didn’t start to fall in – I’m lucky that I more sort of poked my nose in and managed to retreat back out again.
I wasn’t depressed at all in the clinical way, not even mildly. I was still entirely functioning and maintained the ability to laugh and enjoy myself BUT I was definitely out of sorts. I am usually quite a chirpy person, generally an optimist, often called ‘positive’ and I have the ability to find joy from simple pleasures, albeit while being human and riding the natural emotional waves from the ups & downs of life events etc.
But a few weeks ago I noticed my usual way of being had shifted. It wasn’t just a temporary ‘feeling miffed ‘cos something was annoying or upsetting’ or a ‘losing the plot with the teenager’. Instead the only way I can describe it was that I just generally felt a bit bleak.
As I stared down the barrel of Winter, Boris had just announced we will be having to deal with bloody Covid and all it’s restrictions for at least another 6 months, one of the kids had already brought home a cold from school and passed it on, the weather had turned cold/wet, and I was just not feeling at all enthused about life. It felt like there was nothing much to look forward to. I’m not really a lover of autumn at the best of times but where the diary would usually have a good smattering of fun in it, this year it’s looking a tad bare. In addition we had taken on a rescue house bunny and it hadn’t turned out to be the easy, cute experience that we were expecting which caused it’s own stress & anxiety (but that’s a whole other story for another day).
Fundamentally nothing was REALLY wrong with my life. I’m incredibly lucky doing work that I love, not having financial stress, my kids are fine at the mo, I’m fit / healthy etc etc. But I still felt bleak.
I noticed how I was feeling and chatted to various friends about it, and it felt like I wasn’t the only one – others seemed to be feeling the same. There was an article circulating on social media about 6 months being a marker for when you’ve been dealing with an unsettling event and it really starts to wear you down. Maybe this was happening to me? I’ve no idea. Anyway, the bleakness went on for a week or so and then I realised that I wasn’t helping myself. I have so many tools at my disposal that can help and I wasn’t using them.
Firstly I noticed my state of mind had got stuck on focusing on what was missing, what wasn’t going well, what I couldn’t do etc. When this happens our brain gets stuck on a story of ‘life is rubbish’ and looks for evidence to back up that story, largely ignoring all of the good stuff that is happening. Not helpful.
I was reading the News too much. Not helpful.
I noticed I was eating more sugar / crisps – the classic comfort eating which in turn leads to a vicious cycle of sugars highs and lows. Not helpful.
I wasn’t practicing gratitude for all the good stuff going on. Not helpful.
I wasn’t journaling which in turn sets me up for having better intentions, noticing everything that’s going on and also highlights the good bits too. Not helpful.
I wasn’t inviting friends to meet up or do things. Not helpful.
The upshot was that, having noticed what was going on, I gave myself a kick up the rear end and decided to sort it out.
First – I changed my attitude. I had to consciously do this and keep consciously doing it until it went back to fairly automatically being my old optimistic & chirpier self. I chose to focus on the positive stuff – what I had going on, rather than what I didn’t.
I started journaling again a few times a week which helped to reinforce my new intention. I practiced gratitude every day and started to appreciate what was around me again – the leaves changing colours, enjoying my new replacement hobbies, being more in the moment rather than projecting forward etc.
I set up some meet ups with various friends. I even did some admin rather than keep procrastinating. I finally arranged to get the leaking gutter fixed so that can stop being a source of irritation. Etc etc.
And it all worked. I feel like my old self again and feel fairly chirpy – even though fundamentally the stuff that was making me feel low is still pretty much the same, but my mindset has shifted.
Now your healthy mental habits might be different to mine, if you are feeling low have a think what you can do to give yourself a boost.
You might need to give yourself more rest or quiet times?
Or you might need to do some regular exercise?
Or make sure you spend time in Nature?
Or start a gratitude habit?
Or do something creative?
Or phone a good friend?
Or declutter your house?
Or cut down on drinking?
Or get off social media?
Or many other options.
You will know what habits make you feel better so have a think, then set an intention to make sure that you do those. When we follow our healthy mental habits it ALWAYS helps, even if we’re dealing with lots of really crappy life stuff.
It’s not about denying when life is tough; it’s about helping ourselves to be more resourced to deal with it…….
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Remember you can reach out to me at any time for help with mind-set, mood and movement! (plus fitness, gut health nutrition and sports therapy).
A Good Pamper
If you want a bit of a Pamper in the safety of your own home DYBO Diva Emma Doherty is doing a special deal for our DYBO family.
Emma works above and beyond the industry covid safety guidelines.
07976 661702
emma@thehairandbeautyartist.co.uk
www.thehairandbeautyartist.co.uk
DYBO Live & Online – This week’s Classes are as follows:
Monday
6.30pm Boogie Fit (Beginners/Returners)
7.15pm The Middle Bit – Complimentary when attending BF or CD or £3.50
7.45pm Cardio Dance (Intermediate)
Tuesday
6.30pm HIIT (Simple & effective fitness training)
7.15pm Core Power – Complimentary when attending HIIT or DF or £3.50
7.45pm Dance Fit (Intermediate)
Wednesday
6.30pm Old Skool Step (All levels)
7.15pm Barre Fit (All levels)
Thursday
6.15pm Contemporary Stretch (All levels)
7.30pm Dance & Perspiration (Fitness with a Dance focus, more experienced)
Friday
6.30pm Freestyle Fitness Yoga (Relax, Restore and Reboot)
****** All the above classes change and vary weekly! *****
How to prepare your environment
- You need space to move 2 side steps, 4 walks forward, 4 backward. Move trip hazards and furniture as much as you can (get help, be careful!) to give you maximum space for upper and lower body movement. Roll up rugs or secure them so they don’t slip or cause you to trip.
- Plugging your device in to your TV with an HDMI cable is brilliant as it gives you a good picture of you (like a mirror) and me – as well as boosting the sound if you go through the TV/Hi-Fi sound system. If you can place your device under the TV, then even better.
- I know some of you are using your phones – try to plug in to a speaker system (even those little speakers we have when we go on holiday would help) so that you can hear better as you move back from the phone. Angie has tried Bluetooth earphones and it worked well.
- Ensure you have maximum access to your Wi-Fi in the house and as close to the router as is feasible. Take phones off the Wi-Fi system and pop them on to your 4/5G network or place on airplane mode, unless that’s what you are using to join us, obviously. Ask family to do the same for the duration of your class – keep them off the internet whilst you need the bandwidth. The more bandwidth you have, the better the picture and sound and the less likely you are to lose the feed. Your health is a priority at this time and I’m sure they can do something else for that short time!
- Ventilate your exercise space, have plenty of water and towels to hand, keep your exercise equipment close – if you need anything, let me know.
- Wear correct footwear for your activity – putting an old pair of socks over the toes and ball of your trainers will help reduce friction when exercising on carpet (if they are a really old pair, cutting the toes open and then just having them over the ball of the foot is even better). It’s up to you if you want to dance or train in bare feet but be careful if you don’t usually do this as it takes time for the muscles and connective tissue of the feet and rest of the body to adapt to barefoot training.
- Make your own gym equipment. Save laundry liquid or milk bottles – you can fill them with water or wet sand/rice etc. to add weight and make a dumbell/kettlebell. I recommend you make a few in differing weights and you have written on them so you know what they weigh and seal the caps with tape to prevent leakage. Get a heavy duty shopping bag and put weighty items in it, check they can’t fall out and you have a kettlebell alternative. Make your own hurdles, put cushions, pillows, boxes, books on the floor to jump over. Use household items as floor markers for circuit activities. The stairs and outdoor steps are great temporary steps/benches for cardio and upper body work. The garden is a great open space to make an assault course or if you can get a signal, take your class or PT session outside, but do make it safe.
Fees, you have three options!
£6.50 per class. Paid in advance please.
10 Class Voucher £55
Membership, unlimited classes, £50 plus a lockdown bonus of free access to all videos of the classes!
(Valid first to last day of calendar month, paid on the first day of the month)
If things get so tight that you can’t afford it then please reach out to me, I want to keep you healthy and happy and help you through this tough time and trust that no-one will take advantage of me.
Bank details are UK Fitness Academy Ltd.
Sort Code 09-01-28, Acc No. 04284324
Please email me when you have made a payment and use your name and what it’s for as a reference.
eg. Jane Smith Class Voucher. As reference, I do have a Paypal account but it costs money to receive and move money.
Mood (and Gut) boosting bites
Found on “Feed your happiness”
You will need
- 10 figs
- 2 cups of walnuts
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons of cacao
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup of shredded coconut
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the figs in a bowl of water and soak overnight.
- The following day blitz the walnuts in a food processor until they form a fine crumb.
- Remove the figs from the water and place in the food processor with the coconut oil, cacao, cinnamon and salt. Keep the water that the figs were soaking in to the side as you may add it to the mixture later on.
- Blitz all of the ingredients until they are combined and you have a sticky mixture. If you find your mixture is too thick you can add some of the water that the figs were soaking in but only add one tablespoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
- Smooth the mixture on to a tray lined with baking paper and then sprinkle the top with the shredded coconut.
- Cover the tray and set in the refrigerator for at least four hours.
- Cut into small squares and store in the freezer or refrigerator until you are ready to eat.
Yummy and a great on the go snack with a cup of tea
Have a great week – remember I’m here to help.
Love Ya,
Helen x
