psychology
5 small habits that immediately make life much easier
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To feel better, do you need a sabbatical and at least 500,000 euros? Why not try these little habits? Because these subtle behaviors can make your life much easier with little effort.
Life is a constant up and down, sometimes everything seems to be running like clockwork, then every day feels like climbing a mountain. Do you feel like the mountain climbing days are taking over? Everything feels heavy and nothing is flowing? Of course we can’t influence what happens outside. Whether we lose our job, whether someone close to us gets sick or whether we are abandoned.
But our own behavior is fortunately in our hands. We cannot simply beam difficult days away, but we can deal with them a little better. These simple Habits, for example, can help you make your life a little bit easier.
These 5 behaviors make your life a little easier
1. Practice gratitude
It sounds trite, but it really helps. If we remind ourselves every day of everything we have and what makes our life beautiful, instead of just focusing on what we think we’re missing or what’s really stupid, something shifts within us. It’s not about toxic positivity: we’re allowed to be sad or long for things. But regularly reminding ourselves of the positive things and the wealth in our lives helps to shift our perspective a little in that direction. Whether you want to do this in the form of a gratitude journal or just remind yourself once a day in your mind, as a kind of meditation, of what you can be grateful for is up to you.
2. Make regular check-ins
Mindfulness can also help you to go through life more calmly. Above all because you practice being in the moment and listening to yourself. If you like, you can learn techniques such as breathing meditation. But it can also be helpful to do small check-ins regularly. How are you feeling right now? What is going through your head? Are you more restless than usual? Is there a lot going on? The key here is not to judge, but simply to perceive. The more precisely you know yourself, your feelings and reactions, the better you can adapt your self-care routine and see what you need in that moment.
3. Exercise sufficiently
In order to be well in the long term – both physically and mentally – we need to move. Please note, this is not about toxic self-optimization and having to conform to a certain body image. Rather, the focus should be on what type of exercise is good for you individually, is fun and fits into your life. Maybe it’s yoga because the mindful flow is good for you, or a HIIT workout because you feel best when you can really let off steam. In phases when there is a lot going on and we are not feeling very well, we often neglect sport and enough exercise – but that is precisely when we need it. Finding a sport routine that works for you personally and gives you joy can help you to be more relaxed, content and healthier.
4. Invest in the right relationships
People are social beings – we need other people to feel good. Investing in relationships that are good for us and that give us energy is therefore an important form of self-care. At the same time, it can be important to set boundaries with people who tend to drain our energy. Ideally, we banish such energy thieves from our lives. In reality, however, this is unfortunately not always possible; at work or in the family, we are sometimes forced to interact with people who are not necessarily conducive to our well-being. However, if we manage to keep contact with these people as low as possible, we have more time and energy for the social bonds from which we benefit in the long term.
5. Prioritize and do one thing at a time
When our to-do list gets longer and longer, we often feel the urge to do everything immediately, preferably at the same time, just to relieve the pressure of the overfilled list. But we’re not doing ourselves any favors in the long term, because our brains are simply not designed for multitasking. We’re much more efficient when we only do one task at a time. The result is better, and we don’t stress ourselves out with five parallel to-dos. So when everything gets too much, the rule is: prioritize, see what’s most important, and work through our tasks one after the other in peace and quiet.