Embracing a wellness based, stressbusting™ lifestyle is not something that happens overnight.
So remember as January’s Resolution season approaches to keep any initial resolutions or objectives in this regard SMART – Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
Try to focus more on ‘Redefining Habits’ than ‘Keeping Resolutions’ and make alterations to your lifestyle incremental (gradual) as opposed to all encompassing, otherwise you may find them overwhelming be tempted to just give up.
Aim for minimal life disruption in the first instance. The target being to alter habits in such a subtle manner over a longer period that you start to barely notice the changes.
Thus creating the ultimate objective - a 24/7 Wellness State without effort.
The easiest place to start on a Wellness Journey is to ask yourself if you are drinking enough water.
We cannot impress enough what a positive difference to our Wellness ditching carbonated drinks in favour of hydrating H2O had on us.
Be careful however not to overdo it as too much water can be as damaging as too little.
There are useful calculators available online that will tell you precisely what the ideal intake should be for your weight 👌.
As opposed do cutting out carbonated drinks completely, you may elect to simply reduce your intake and partner it with an increased water consumption – its your Wellness Plan so it needs to be Achievable for you and this example is precisely what we mean by making ‘incremental’ changes.
We find a glass of water near to a meal helps reduce an over active appetite when meal time comes around and another glass shortly afterwards aids digestion.
Similarly, rather than removing highly calorific but zero nutrient alcoholic drinks from your life, you may decide rather just to reduce your intake of them or switch to a lower calorie drink.
As a further starter for 10, we would recommend a responsible level of food consumption change where possible, as this is causes least upheaval to your existing lifestyle.
After all, you have to eat – you are just electing to eat in a slightly different way or in different portions or at different times.
A good example of moderate change with minimum disruption is, e.g., replacing full fat mayonnaise with a 'lighter than light' version, which cuts an amazing 80% of calories per serving and really doesn't taste that different after a couple of samples!
See our post entitled “Top 10 Super Cost Effective Stressbusting™ Tips to Dietary Wellness that SAVED us money” for changes that worked for us, though everyone is different and as your plan develops you will likely enjoy finding your own techniques as it’s part of the fun!
You might want to place physical reminders around the house of your objectives to keep you focused and make the exercise less serious and more fun (see, e.g., our previous post entitled "The Food Scarecrow"!).
After that, ask yourself if there are any light exercises that can be built into your existing daily routine, as opposed to having to set time aside for it.
Could you e.g. walk instead of taking the bus to the shops/work or stand for a period instead of sitting (which burns more calories)?
Are there more reasons you can create to climb the stairs more than you do currently so there is a useful primary purpose to it, etc. ?
And have more contact if possible with those people who satisfy “Wellness Criteria” themselves - see our post entitled “Break Time Quickie : Stressbusting™ Allies to Keep Close” for more info – as these people will better understand what you are trying to achieve and encourage you to your goals.
Read blogs such as ours and others which promote and provide tips on wellness to know you are not alone and what you are doing is important – not only to you, but to your family, your friends and to society as a whole.
Engage in your hobby, or if you haven’t got one, try to find one! See our post entitled "The Best Gifts are "Made@HomeWith❤"" for suggestions.
This will both relax you in its own right and take your mind off the charges you are making (which it is critical do not become your core life focus).
And bear in mind when picking a hobby something people often forget – namely, that brain work burns off calories in addition to physical activities!
Not only that, but research shows having a hobby that regularly exercises the ‘little grey cells’ can help fend off alzheimer’s disease.
If you tire or miss a Timed Objective, don’t beat yourself up because this means you have in fact designed goals that are Measurable because they have enabled you to identify whether or not they are being achieved at a given point in time – just run a check to ensure that the goals you are setting yourself are Realistic and if not, reframe them to your life as necessary.
It is virtually impossible to separate Wellness from Stressbusting™ – all the above described actions will reduce your stress in one form or another, while increasing your overall quality of life and, in all likelihood, your life expectancy in the process.
But in conclusion, to use the all inclusive breakfast buffet analogy contained in the title of this post, bear in mind that there is a vast menu of wellness enhancing / stressbusting™ strategies out there, and you need not try all at once or it will sicken you, and can always go back for more or to try something else if the first you try are not to your taste.
NB: any major Wellness Programme, particularly those involving strenuous exercise or a substantial dietary alteration, should not be undertaken if in doubt or in the case of a pre existing medical condition, without seeking the guidance of a qualified medical professional.
For more info, please consult our “Legal Notices” page.
All our love & good tidings
LoULoU™&MikeyM™ 👍💫💛🧡💜💙 xxxxx