Small thing that has improved your day to day life

[PositivePenny]

I’m looking for ideas on how to improve my day to day life. Although there is nothing particularly wrong at the moment, if anything I’ve entered the phase where life is pretty good (established career, dc grown up, no major worries). I feel like I can improve still; I don’t eat particularly well, very rarely exercise, house could be more organised and cleaner, I could take better care of myself - there’s always something that could be better!

What small thing do you do that just makes you feel like you have your life together or makes you happy when you’ve done it?

Improving like this is a lifelong journey isn't it? With steps forward and back.

Things that have made my life better are:

Marie Kondo and the associated way of thinking: only having things that bring joy, through aesthetics or function (getting rid of the niggles of dissatisfaction) and getting organized and getting the flow right for us (eg in my house, shoes and socks by the door so we can put them on our bare feet as we go out. Perfect for us). Getting rid of dead weight material possessions. Living lightly on the earth. Realising how little I really need and not getting tempted by the consumerist nonsense. But when I do buy, getting the pleasurable good quality stuff. I love my nice bags.

Doing yoga or exercise first thing in the morning, before 7 am. After that I am into morning routine with the kids. I had to get into this to recover from surgery but it is so worth it. I get grumpy now if I don't get it. I generally don't feel like it when my alarm goes off, but I just have my exercise clothes hanging on the end of the bed, shove them on and go do something off YouTube in the front room. As little friction as possible, and my shower is my regular morning shower.

Going to bed early If I'm tired.

Addressing my menopause symptoms, and taking my pills including vit D.

Buying all the little tools for the kitchen. E.g. 3 Tongs in the style I like.

Getting my personal finances sorted. Big job at first, but now it's only small work every month. But background anxiety much reduced.

Wearing shoes with supportive soles.

Finding a hobby I like and deliberately carving time for it.

Making space for my spiritual connection and practices. This brings meaning to how I move through the world, and what I give mental space to.

Ensuring I meet my needs eg for time to do xyz. Being vocal about these and (nicely) pushing for these to be met. I don't ask much (see early exercise and hobby) but do I do expect my small reasonable requests to be met. My "request rights" aren't used up with doing the shopping, laundry and other tasks for the entire family. I support them all in their stuff, it's OK to ask for that to be reciprocated.

A lot involved shifts in me more than anything else! Doing that internal work to "be" as I want to be.

I started leaving my phone in the living room when I went to bed.
No staring at a screen before sleep.
No blinding myself checking the time in the middle of the night.
No checking email 7 seconds after I wake up.
Much better.

Couch to 5k for exercise and Calm app for meditation. These have both made a difference. Also am back on the wagon losing weight so I can fit in my clothes better. I have a little wildlife pond with tadpoles and frogs and a few water plants. This makes me inexplicably happy. You could make one out of an old washing up bowl even. In the morning, insects visit to drink and I get frogspawn in March. It looks after itself.

I double the recipe I'm cooking and freeze the extras. Then when too tired to cook something good, just defrost and reheat :)

@glamourousindierockandroll thought you might appreciate this!

@dexterslockedintheshedagain YES.

An absolutely key thing. I have cut down on things since I retired. I was being asked to do lots of things that were pleasant enough to do ,but I didn't really want to do them. I googled 'saying no politely ' because I was brought up to people please and it had become a totally ingrained habit. Life changing
"Thank you so much for asking me, but I'm afraid I just don't have time for that just now. Please feel free to ask me again another time' ( when I will also say no). Works fantastically. Totally polite and friendly but NO. Gives any hovering cheeky fuckers nowhere to go. They generally look surprised and respond with 'Oh, okay' and move on to the next victim. So far I have NOT run the fete, been chairperson of the playing fields committee and done endless extra shifts at the shop. I have not died people still speak to me and the world has continued to turn.

Me too. I joined a walking and social group this year and the first walk I went on was the bluebells. I have lived near the Malvern hills all my life but I have never really explored them properly. Walking and chatting and discovering what is there has been brilliant. There are 12 of us and we walk one evening every week. There are a couple of longer walks at weekends each month. I feel fitter and uplifted after the walks. I am not a natural exerciser but chatting and enjoying the scenery means you can walk for hours without realising it. My legs ache, but it a really good way.

This is a game changer

After reading it here I started writing three good things at the end of each day. Focusing on the positive instead of what gets me down has turned my mood around and makes me feel more in control.

Using a luxury body lotion and nice smelling hand soap gives a pleasant sensory kick. So much so that I’ve recently got into wearing perfume after a lifetime of not being into it. A blast of scent to lift my mood works every time.

Whenever I notice I’m procrastinating (which is a lot) I just do the thing I’m putting off. Or make my peace with it never getting done.

pay attention to food - make it attractive and don’t multi task, focus on enjoying eating simple nutritious meals. Porridge almost every morning with maple syrup is glorious

Got a dog. Walk miles daily.
Lifts my mood, clears my head , exercises my body and gets me outside.

Keep expectations low. Pilates.

Excellent thread - thank you!

Rest when feeling tired
Eating as much fruit and veg as possible
Leave phone downstairs at bedtime and read before sleeping
Saying no
Being outside as much as possible

@dalisdrippingclock awesome! Nicole has a great four part YouTube series called "healing yourself" which talks about the technique she uses. She speaks a lot about using it as a technique for helping with chronic conditions such as pain, anxiety, fatigue, but honestly I think every person alive would benefit from it. I have healed so many chronic symptoms by having it in my toolkit, but also just feel so much more together, calm, self compassionate etc. I love Sarah Blondin meditations on insight timer as well. Just lovely!

I just downloaded insight timer and am confused. So much to set up. Just need something instant and simple.

Waking up at 5:30 to have my coffee and wake up properly in peace before kids wake up, i feel much more able to handle the instant tantrums

cleaning and tidying downstairs before i go up to bed, its very relaxing to come downstairs in the morning to everything neat

wearing/using my ‘good stuff’ daily. I used to not wear my nice clothes and saved them for special occasions but i hardly go anywhere and its just hanging in my wardrobe. Same with perfume, make up and jewellery.

@misskatamari , thank you for the journal speak recommendation. I journal and it does help immensely, but that looks like something I need for something that won't go away !!

@Amdone123 oh I'm so glad! I honestly recommend it so often (I think dh likes I've joined a cult 😂). Nicole's podcast is fab too and she has loads of good content on her Instagram. I hope it helps you ❤️

@Benjispruce4 i don't remember a difficult set up, but I would definitely stick with it, it's super easy once you've logged in and has fantastic content.

So many great ideas! One that really jumped out at me is setting boundaries. This is definitely something that I could work on and something that I think would make a huge difference to me. I was awful when younger, just couldn’t say no to anyone, this has improved massively as I’ve become older and more confident but is still something that I struggle with from time to time.

I love the poster who said “Thanks for asking but I can’t right now, feel free to ask another time.” 😀

@PositivePenny

YouTube have loads of guided meditations. Honestly, it's so good for me, relaxes me completely ... x

I recommend a man called Michael Sealey or Jason Stephenson both are wonderful x

Thanks @misskatamari i just get so fed up of typing in my life details.

I agree with @netflixandnaps that Jason Stephenson does brilliant guided meditations. i love his voice.

:D I get that @Benjispruce4 it's super annoying when you just want to set something up. It's so long ago I got it now, that I can't remember. It's definitely worth it if you can face the sign up, but I completely get it if it's too annoying 😄

This is a fab thread. Does the insight app start costing money after a trial or is it a totally free one?