Three Positive & Successful
Life Changes
Life is so much better when you make the choices you've always wanted to make. When you drop the bad vibes and embrace the good. There's been a lot of talk lately, here on the blog at least, about making positive choices and changes. There are two reasons behind my new mindset and both are equally motivating.
Reason number one - life is too short. Tomorrow is promised to no one and as I get older, the idea of wasting the short time I do have here on earth, doesn't interest me in the slightest. Just as I spoke about being excited to turn 30 next year, it also means there's no room left to dwell on the negatives when the choice to be 'posi' is right there in front of me.
Reason number two - why be negative? In the grand scheme of everyday life why would you choose to be negative? Why spend your time worrying about things that eat you up, dwelling on things you don't have the capacity to change (unless you've figured out time travel and have been keeping it on the down low) or actively seeking out the things that don't have the ability to change your life for the better. The less time you allow negativity to eat you up, the more time you have to live the best life ever.
So with those two things at the forefront of my mind, these are the three ways it's affecting me for the better.
Saying Yes
I've always been the average sort of individual when it comes to saying yes to things. I'm more than excited to say yes to spending time with family and friends, when I have the time of course, but when it comes to career choices, there is definitely a hesitation because of how wary I am of making the wrong decisions. I spoke about this a lot in both 'The Future Of Blogging' and 'Why Bloggers Should Diversify Their Brand'. Saying yes is always a tangle of FOMO, anxiety, excitement and wishing there were 8 days in a week. But this year I've been trying to say yes to the things that will benefit me, in every part of my life and so far it's definitely been working. You can't say yes to everything, so working out what is worth saying yes to is the key. Saying yes to the right things has meant I'm finally working on a work/life balance, I've met new friends who have inspired and amazed me, I've attended events I adored and I feel like I'm in turn saying yes to much needed 'me time'.
Being Kind To Myself
Something that took me far too long to get to grips with, is being kinder to myself and this year I've made a real effort to stop beating myself up about the things I have no control over. It still takes me a moment to realise I'm being too harsh with myself, but when I do, I finally have the ability to focus on what I did achieve and celebrate that instead. It's turning those days that would previously feel like failures when the whole list didn't get checked off, into positive days because actually most of the list did get done. Being kinder to myself recently, and brushing off negativity when it crept in, has really had a knock on effect on most other things in my life. My relationship, my work and most importantly my mental health. Continuing on the path to kindness is definitely a direction I want to work towards, after all it's a win win for me, and those around me, in every single way.
Gaining Perspective
A definite work in progress that will take some time to grow on me but something that I've seen a huge change in already - gaining a little perspective. I find that when I'm trying to balance everything on my little shoulders, if I step back and look at the bigger picture, that perspective always helps me to reorder my priorities. It's not only great for me to look at the bigger picture when it comes to my career (deadline panic is all too real sometimes) but also in my personal life too. It's far too easy to be so hard on myself when things aren't going exactly to plan but stepping back allows me to realise things aren't actually too bad at all and even if things are, there's always a way to learn, try again and succeed the next time that hurdle appears.
Hopefully this might help some of you who might be struggling with the work/life balance or those of you who are struggling with internal negativity right now. I've been there, and honestly these tips of stepping back, brushing off random negative thoughts and especially gaining perspective, have changed my personality so much for the better.
