What’s your mood like lately? Do you feel overworked, stressed out, and ready for a little pick me up?
With spring in the air and the Earth coming to life again, now is a great time to be good to yourself and boost your mood with small efforts. Even if you can’t take that wished-for spa vacation, you can weave a little self care into every day to boost your mood and bring you to a happier place.
Get Moving
Yes, we’ve all heard it before. Movement gets rid of stress and releases those all-important feel-good endorphins. So just get moving doing something you like. Play softball, dance the rumba, do kickboxing, run, stroll, garden, swim where you’re comfortable, spin until you drop, or do gentle yoga stretches until you feel at peace. Just move.
Use Color
Take a peek in your closet – what dominant colors do you see? Whether your clothes resemble the oceany palette of greens, blues, and tans or the ramped-up reds, oranges, and hot pinks, those are your feel good colors. Surround yourself with your favorite colors in your home, too. To boost your mood with colors, buy a few new pillows, a colorful bouquet, a new quilt, or even a funky lampshade to make your surroundings feel good.
Coddle Yourself
Nope, this isn’t a free pass for days in bed! But taking a little extra time for you is going to make you feel good. Experiment with something other than your go-to ponytail, your basic lip balm, and your baggy, but beloved, sweater. Or, if you find you are a slave to your makeup or hair, try to let some of that routine go. Perk up how you pay attention to yourself and to what makes you feel good.
Enrich Your Mind
Nothing feels as good as learning something new, but you don’t have to tackle War and Peace to feel smart. Pick up a colorful and easy-to-read magazine on something that looks interesting to you. It can be woodworking, herb gardening, travel, computers, photography, or poetry. If it looks interesting, a magazine or book is a low-investment way to take your mind to a new place.
Sit and Be
In this crazy, hectic world, we all need time to just be. Find a place where you can just sit for a few minutes every single day. Even if that means you have to close your eyes in a restaurant bathroom or in the car before you get out to run your errands, a few peaceful minutes can do wonders for your mood. Sit. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Be Grateful
Even on the toughest day, try to think of something to be grateful for. Can’t think of anything? Some days are just like that, but even appreciating the warm socks on your feet or the beautiful color of the sky or even that, thankfully, the day is almost over and you can crawl into bed, are all ways to pause and acknowledge your existence.
If all that fails, a little chocolate solves many problems!
What’s your favorite way to make yourself feel happier?
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