How do I improve my life please

[KneesAreSore]

Need to give myself some little goals. Am feeling quite down, sleep not good. Am already taking antids.
I need to eat healthily and get some walking in too.

Just need some ideas on how to implement some good daily habits please. Health, sleep, exercise, socialising, spiritual. The whole lot.

Feeling lonely and not confident at the mo. Also my house is a mess.

Appreciate some ideas on how to organise myself.

Thank you in advance

Download the finch app its great for motivating u on small goals

Books I'm working through:
Burnt out
The power of fun
The happiness trap

I’m in the same boat and I’m focussing on losing weight and fitness goals. They make me feel naturally a lot happier and fitter.

im not on antidepressants though as while they don’t make me put on weight I do feel in the past they’ve stopped me losing weight

The first thing I would do is declutter. It does wonders for your mental health. Get three bags: recycling, rubbish, donate and mercilessly get rid off stuff. Give yourself a deadline by organising a charity collection in two weeks.

Organise your drawers and give everything a place. You can buy drawer tidies which help keep things neat.

Then I would overhaul your diet and take supplements: omega 3, vitamin D, Probiotic, B Vitamins and Magnesium. Add water, wholemeal, nuts, seeds, lean protein, legumes and pulses as well as plenty of fruit and vegetables. Cut down or give up alcohol.

Make getting fresh air a habit, even if its a ten minute walk round the block. Try to get out into nature. Build up your exercise routine: swimming, a brisk walk, hiking etc

Finally look into meeting more people. Try meet up.com, local Facebook, Next Door and try to join local clubs and groups.

Try small incremental changes. For example, re. eating, start on a Monday by changing your breakfast - try scrambled eggs, porridge, avocado on wholemeal toast. The following Monday change your mid morning snack, and so on.

For the house tackle one room at a time with two bags one for rubbish one for the charity shop. Plan something nice for the room for when you finish tidying up - a new duvet cover, a nice print.

good luck! ❤️

Can I join you, OP?

I've been feeling pretty burnt out lately and could do with some motivation!

When I was struggling, the best thing I did was as soon as I woke up I got up and went out for a walk. Whatever, the weather, and even if I could only manage 5 minutes out and then 5 minutes back home. It's really good for your circadian rhythm to get outside as soon as you wake.

Is that possible, or have you got small kids at home? I also agree that decluttering is great for making you feel more positive about life and less depressed about how stuck you are.

You need a dog

I was thinking to do this as in same way as OP. I was thinking of walking immediately upon waking on the days I wfh but wondered if it would leave me tired and actually not in a good way to start my working day?!

There's a book called The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul that is quite good for this. Self improvement projects often fail because feelings get lost and the outcome-oriented project itself ends up inducing difficult feelings like frustration, guilt, shame and self reproach. The author puts different questions centre stage: how do you want to feel? What would help you feel that way? This means there's more flexibility (often needed e.g. within a menstrual cycle) and ultimately, an openness to good experiences and feelings when they happen. It's more self directed and less at risk of turning into a tyranny of "shoulds" that just make the burnout worse.

I would focus on you as a priority first. A little 15 or 30 minutes walk a day or as many days as you can manage. Little things like a hair mask or face mask. A long bath listing to music, book, play or whatever you like. For sleep you could try a meditation sleep on YouTube, try and have a routine of no phone/tv a little while before bed, skin routine like putting on Moistureiser. Journaling, drinking mainly water, eating more fruit and veg.

For your house you could try sorting out one room a week or even one drawer or cupboard a week. Whatever you feel upto.

Good luck op oh and don't forget things like enjoying a cup of tea or reading a book. The little things all add up to the big things.

Thank you all. Really helpful ideas

Tiny habit-building.

For example, I'm terrible at taking supplements (hair-trigger gag reaction so find swallowing things really hard, plus forgetful / easily distracted).

The first thing I do in the morning is make myself a coffee, so I bought spray supplements and keep them beside the coffee machine: as it's firing up, I give myself a quick spray and then drink a glass of water.

Because everything is there and it takes almost exactly the same amount of time it takes for the coffee machine (DeLonghi bean to cup, highly recommended btw) to sort itself out, I've achieved three tasks in three minutes. I can now almost do it in my sleep.