Many of us have been in lockdown which means we have had to adapt to a different way of living and being. It also means we may have had more time to focus on our thoughts, and possibly fears, as the other distractions that would normally have filled our time have dropped away. 

Here are a couple of suggestions for using this pause from ‘the norm’ to reflect and empower yourself:

Be kind to yourself 

Some days will feel easier than others and meeting yourself where you are and not trying to ‘always be happy’ or ‘see the positives’ or ‘be okay’ is healthier than forcing this when you are really not feeling it. 

I find a useful exercise when you are having ‘one of those days’ (and we all have them!) is to think about the emotion you are feeling and name it. By acknowledging and naming it, it often lessens. An important thing with this though, is to not try to actively change the emotion. This is because when you do this you have to focus on the negative emotion and even though you are trying to do something seemingly positive with it, it will intensify. The alternative is to think about how you would like to feel instead and then focus on that feeling.

Stop the comparison

Step away from the ‘gram. Stop scrolling through Facebook. Quieten that inner voice that is telling you you ‘should’ use this time to do that course/write a book/do HIIT workouts/<insert your own activity here> because everyone else is.

Comparison can be debilitating as you are taking the external view of someone else and comparing it to the internal view of yourself. Social media is often the highlight reel and doesn’t show the hours it has taken for someone to achieve something, or the fact that inside they may be crippled with self-doubt, or that they also spend their weekends watching Netflix rather than being super productive all of the time. 

Instead, think about what you would like to achieve for you. Maybe it is to find 10 minutes a day for meditation. Maybe it is to find 10 minutes to read a book. Maybe it is to get dressed today. It doesn’t matter - this is about what you want and living your life, your way. If you want big goals, that is also great, and you can put the plans in place to achieve these, one step at a time - but make sure they are your goals and you are doing them for you.