When we’re rushing from work to hobby to home, we can keep ourselves too busy and distracted to live with any true intention.

Huge numbers of people are facing a discomfort about life right now, not just the stress of Covid 19, but about having to look at life and ask if it is what they wanted it to be.

So many people have a lot more quiet time in life. But quiet time is tortuous for most people suffering stress, overwhelm, or anxiety.

If we’re not happy in our relationship we can’t as easily distract from that reality right now.

The same is true if we’re not happy in our job, or our studies.

The big one however is if we’re not happy in ourselves.

If we’re feeling not good enough, always being our own worst critic, never giving ourselves a break, those feelings seem louder and stronger in the stillness and quiet that people are now experiencing.

In a few months this will end, and we will have the option to get back on the treadmill and distract ourselves from those feelings. In the meantime, many will simply distract into social media, working too much at home, any busy pointless work they can find, or even into alcohol or drugs.

There may well be pressure to be more productive from home as businesses suffer. That pressure simply fuels the stress feelings and for most will end up cutting productivity, because pressure and stress reduce our clarity, productivity, and well-being.

If there is bad feeling right now, I recommend you welcome it.
It’s a herald or messenger of a chance to make life better.

Let’s not hide from what needs to change by just keeping too busy to notice it.

When this is over, we could all be happier in ourselves, and in doing so our cognitive efficiency will increase. That’s our brains ability to do well. That boosts productivity without pressure, allows us to enjoy life, and makes it easier to succeed in what matters to us. Family time, spots and hobbies, and work.

Lots of people have loads of extra free time now. Wouldn’t it be great to use some of it to make life better long-term and to grow happiness?

People are sitting at home not working and many more are saving hours of travel each day when working from home.

There is opportunity now.

It doesn’t have to involve leaving hone either.

Online options are all over the place.

Here are 6 options that you can do from home (several of them for free) that can help. Try a few and see which suit you.

1. Yoga – One of the most successful things to boost well-being. (I checked the data and research on this recently and it frequently lifts mood in a single session. More evidence for that than for any other intervention I’ve seen). I do Yoga on YouTube. Just the simple beginner’s stuff, and often for only 10 minutes. It makes my days better in many ways.

2. Mindfulness. It cuts stress, reduces anxiety, and improves clarity of thinking. Loads of evidence out there. If focusing on breath is not relaxing then focus on your feet or hands. There are many options. Again, YouTube is there, free apps, and free online classes.

3. Exercise. Just walking 30 minutes has huge benefits. Improves mood, cuts stress, reduces anxiety, reduces long term risks for arthritis, Alzheimer’s and more too.

4. Personal development courses. There are any number of courses online that can teach skills to improve emotional well-being, increase self-awareness, grow emotional intelligence, enhance motivation etc. There are free, low price, and high price options out there.

5. If there is something that really needs to be addressed with assistance, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, etc. there are loads of online therapy options available. Check out which ones have a good track record and see who you can find. Everything will work for somebody but finding which work for many people is my recommendation. I can help find referrals for people if needed. I now a lot of therapists and their specialities 😊

6. Lastly, a big one. Just checking in on how we feel a few times during the day and being honest if this is how we want to feel is a massive thing. If we can stop denying or ignoring what’s really being felt, we can take control. I know too much about this one having lived over three decades with severe anxiety. It was too easy to ignore how I was feeling and to lie to myself that it was all fine. That act of ignoring the real problems kept me suffering for decades. This is our chance to evaluate life and make changes. It’s tough, fear-filled, and perhaps the most useful thing many of us could ever do.

The treadmill is stopped, or at least slowed down.

Don’t spend the next weeks wishing for it to speed up again.

Take advantage of it and take a step in the right direction.

This is the biggest pattern interrupt in living memory.

Build happiness and peace one step at a time, then they allow everything else to become easier.

You don’t have to have all the answers at the start, it’s fine to search for them as you go.

Whatever happened in the past, whatever holds us back may be the result of the actions of others, but we are the only people who can make change in our own lives.

We can’t wait for someone to make amends, say sorry, or fix it for us.

That starts with awareness and a step in the right direction.

I hope you choose to focus on happiness, now.

Change is easier than you think.

I’m always happy to chat about how life can improve, so feel free to get in touch I you like.

Have a great week,
John

info@johnprendergast.ie
085 13 13 700