Making good choices – Ways to improve in life

I have been on an upward trajectory to improve my life, in terms of work, confidence and general lifestyle and I thought I would share what changes I have made that can help improve your life.

A few years ago, I found that I was constantly unhappy and felt like I was in a hole I couldn’t get out of. There were things that I was holding onto and holding people for ransom in my mind for their wrong doings to me in my past. It wasn’t an easy realisation that those feelings were poisoning me and wasn’t affecting them in the least.

Let go of people who have wronged you

Forgiveness has always been something I have battled with even though I am a committed Christian and have been since I was 8 years old (a story for another day). In my mind, forgiving someone for what they have done always meant I was saying that what they did to me was ok. Logically speaking that’s how I interpreted it. It is still a work in progress for me, but I have come to realise that my lack of forgiveness for certain people in my life was only eating me up inside.

One particular experience comes to mine. I won’t go into detail as it is very personal but I had some very unpleasant experiences with a family member. They made me bitter and angry and hurt. I just couldn’t let them go because what was done to me was wrong and I couldn’t condone it.

Not long before the pandemic, I decided I couldn’t take feeling like that anymore. I bravely decided to face those feelings head on and let go of my hatred and anger at this particular family member because it was only affecting me.

Un-forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die…

I cannot tell you the amazing feeling it was to have those negative feeling lift off of me. I had the help of guided meditation and visualisation to watch the other person drift away from me. Whenever those feeling threaten to resurface I, inwardly, say ‘I have dealt with you, you have no place here’. Each time I do that I feel stronger.

Find joy in something everyday

A negative mindset was almost my default setting for many years. I sometimes wonder why I asked myself why I was so unhappy when I was so negative all the time. Makes perfect sense actually.

About 9 years ago, one of my best friends told me she couldn’t be around me because of how negative I was being. It was exhausting her. I don’t blame her actually because I have now been on the receiving end of a friendship like that and I can tell you, it is unbearable. At the time, I was so hurt and angry at her. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it, because I learnt from that.

Now when I find myself slipping into negativity, I try to find something in that day that brings me joy. Be that a beautiful flower, a quick chat with a friend or some time on my blog. It can anything that works for you. Believe me, it really changes your mindset because you are focusing on the good and accepting the bad is there but it won’t wreck your whole day.

Listen to music

I cannot tell you how many time music has completely changed my day. Music is so therapeutic. One of the things I do to improve in life is to improve my mood and I find music so uplifting.

I am a dance and club music kinda gal. I love music I can dance to and nothing better than a boogie to lift one’s day. Whatever genre you absolutely love, you go for it and blast in the car, bedroom or headphones and see how all your worries drift away.

Find work you love to do

I’m sure most of you know that saying ‘Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life’. It has taken me rather a long time, but I love my job. The company I work for now is fantastic and there is never a dull day. I am so not a morning person, but for this job I get up at 6:30am and start work in another city at 7:30am, and I can honestly say I really don’t mind it.

Find a job that you love and you quality of life improve immensely. Think of the number of hours we spend at work… Can you imagine enjoying those hours, instead of a sense of dread, boredom and being unsatisfied. Wow, it really does make a huge difference.

You may also like – Starting a new job

Exercise

One of my favourite bloggers is Olivia Lucie Blake, check out her blog here, started an amazing fitness journey. I was so impressed with her results and dedication to it, I decided that I needed get my you know what together and get fit again.

After almost 20 years of ballet dancing, it is actually disgraceful at how unfit I have become. Just a short while ago, I decided it was high time I got to the gym for some classes. I made the decision that I needed to improve my image. Gym here we go. I started taking classes and the short amount of time, at the time I am writing this, I am already feeling better.

Improve your life by getting the exercise that you enjoy, be that classes, running or cycling. Whatever gets your endorphins going. You will be blown away with the impact it has on your life as a whole.

I hope you have found these interesting and helpful. Please let me know what you think and share the things you have done to improve in life.

Until next time…