4 Steps to Improving Your Wellbeing
Prioritise Wellbeing.
The focus on having a strong sense of wellbeing is a modern concept I am fully on board with. How has it taken so long for its importance to be recognised?
Having a strong sense of wellbeing is more valuable to humans than having the most highly paid job, or being the person who has achieved the most.
Our wellbeing should be something we are able to hold as a priority, and being able to achieve good wellbeing, should be something accessible to us all.
Having a plan.
However, having a strong sense of wellbeing can come more naturally to some people than others, because of their personality, experience, or circumstance.
And even those who have it need to work to maintain it.
We need to have, and to action, a plan to achieve good wellbeing. The plan may be a subconscious one that we don’t realise we have or that we aren’t aware we are acting upon, or it may be a plan that we need to consciously create for ourselves.
I need to consciously create a plan. These are the 4 Steps to Improving Your Wellbeing I followed. If you need a plan too, I encourage you to try them for yourself.
4 Steps to Improving Your Wellbeing
Step One: Make a conscious choice to want to improve your own wellbeing. We may need help and support with every subsequent action we need to take to get us where we are going, but the support will have a significantly greater effect if we are fully committed to the purpose and the process. It is important to understand that to improve wellbeing we hold the key to unlock it for ourselves. Improving our wellbeing to where we want it to be, can’t be done to us, we are essential to the process as we hold the knowledge to make it happen. Tell yourself you deserve to have a strong sense of wellbeing until you believe it, pin a note on the fridge, or the mirror, if you need to remind yourself that you are making this choice for yourself. Having this choice in the front of your mind can encourage you to make positive decisions for yourself throughout the day and can help keep you on track if the process ever seems challenging.
Step Two: Take the time to understand your unique self. What are all the parts that come together to make you, you? What makes you feel good? What would make you evaluate your life positively? What motivates you? What is within your control? Who has a positive/negative impact on your wellbeing? What barriers to positive wellbeing do you face? What support do you need to overcome these barriers? You might be able to do this alone, you might need a family member, friend or professional to support you to find the answers to the questions but having them can enable you to create a unique set of actions, tailored for yourself, that will improve your wellbeing.
Step Three: Focus on the options you know align with your unique self. Once you are able to understand your unique self you can make use of any wellbeing guides or suggestions, such as those researched and promoted by the NHS and Mind in a more focussed, relevant and beneficial way. Focus on the options you know align with your unique self and that will inspire you, these will be different for everybody. Choose the options that resonate with you and create a list of actions that you need to do to access the option, include what support you will need to achieve them. This list is your unique plan.
Step Four: Take action. Choose the action from your plan you feel most comfortable having a go at and do it! Once you have, check in with yourself to see how you feel. If you notice feeling even a little bit better, continue with it, or even if you’re able, power on to the next action. If you’re not sure it worked for you try a different action or look at step two again to make sure the action aligned with your unique self or whether you might need to readjust it to be more of a match for you, and remind yourself of step one, you deserve to have a strong sense of wellbeing.
Improving your wellbeing
Putting your unique self at the front and centre of your plan to improve your own wellbeing is important to help make positive steps that can provide the benefits you’d like and can be maintained.
- Choose.
- Understand.
- Focus.
- Take Action.
Give it a try.
You are Unique & Loved.
