What Makes Me Feel Good
It’s fair to say that my free time during the last few months has been pretty unproductive. I felt tired after work, skipped the gym and any kind of physical activity and stayed home looking at my phone almost every evening.
And I can see how badly this routine is affecting me. I feel more exhausted than ever and the high temperature isn’t helping at all.
It’s been a fairly slow and repetitive month and part of me can’t wait for July to be over.
But I can’t blame July or any other month in the calendar for my actions.
When it comes to the internet of my phone Apps, I can confirm that the algorithms are working wonderfully. I always get a great mix of food porn, self-improvement texts and green landscapes on Instagram that have me hooked to the scrolling for hours. Tiktok knows when to pop up the cat videos and other cute creatures to avoid me from leaving the platform.
If that wasn’t enough, I have been getting a huge sense of FOMO. I will check the Top Trendings on Twitter every few hours to make sure that I don’t miss any big event, like an Alien Invasion or a random deadly tornado in the neighbourhood.
This obsession with checking my phone is resulting in a considerable decline in my mental health and a dramatic drop in my motivation to participate in other activities that make me happier in the long term but require some effort and presence from my side.
I thought some of you could be going through the same problem, so today I will share a few of the activities that contribute to my relaxation and healp me stay present, enjoy the time and improve my life.
At the end of the day, changing these routines can be a bit tough, but nothing is worse than doing something that is negative for you.
1 – Create a Meditation/Manifestation sheet
If you try to learn about meditation and mindfulness, you are going to find multiple types of techniques and sentences to follow this practice. If you alternate between a few methodologies, there is a chance that you will find those that you enjoy the most.
I recommend writing them down on paper. Use highlighters, underlining and colours to make them pleasant to your eyes and keep them near your bed/sofa or wherever you usually meditate.
After a few days of no meditation is common to forget the sentences/manifestation words that you enjoy using the most. The best trick is to have them handy for when you are ready.
I find that having this paper nearby serves me to be more ready to start a short meditation session and therefore I do it a bit more regularly!
2 – Cut Vegetables and Herbs
It may sound strange, but sometimes when I can’t sleep I will open the fridge, get a snack and start chopping all of the vegetables and herbs that will need to eat the following day. I started doing it with the only purpose to save those extra minutes during the day so that when I want to cook, every plant is ready to cook.
I found this task enhances my state of mindfulness. I love the way in which the sharp blade carves into the product, the smell of the ingredients and the combination of the colours. Touching the vegetables and cutting them into small pieces feels oddly pleasant.
But my favourite part is chopping mint. Rub your finger in mint leaves, smell them and enjoy the most amazing aroma in the world.
3 – Prepare Breakfast
As I mentioned, I often struggle to sleep during the night, and after the chopping veggies session I will continue with cooking a nice breakfast for that day.
Sometimes I will prepare some Pancakes (my version of them). I will snack on a couple of them and leave the rest for the next day. I also enjoy baking muffins and simple recipes that I find online.
Getting home from work and having some ready-to-eat muffins is a pretty nice reward for the day.
4 – Walk
Walking is much more helpful than we want to admit. Sometimes we connect the idea of moving and doing exercise with going to the gym and running on the treadmill, or sweating like an elephant whilst trying to do a difficult Yoga pose.
I have started walking around my area. I recently found a pretty nice route near the river. It’s a pretty quiet area that allows me to spend at least 25 minutes hiking whilst enjoying some nice views of the city.
Walking is an extremely healthy exercise and sadly we are gradually ceasing its practice.
If you want to push yourself a bit harder, I have noticed something else: I make myself go to the gym with the only purpose of walking for 15 minutes on the treadmill. I walk fast and don’t push myself to run at all If I don’t have the energy to do so. When I finish I usually have some extra energy to use the static bicycle and do a few simple arms work out on the floor.
It takes some less than 40 min to do this, and I feel a lot better about myself.
5 – A Massage
Not too long ago I bought my boyfriend a Back and Neck massager from amazon. He usually builds up some tension in his upper body during the day and I thought that an electric massager would be a great gift. And it was. He loves using it in every part of his body, including the top of his legs.
Me, on the other side…I have never been a huge fan of massages, so I was hesitant when he encouraged me to try it.
But is not too bad.
Perhaps is something temporary, but I am enjoying the round movements of the balls in my lower back region, especially after a day wearing heels or any other type of uncomfortable shoe.
I don’t think you need to buy an electric massager too, but you can try and spend a few minutes massaging some part of your body that has buit tension, like your legs or arms.
If you don’t want to buy one of those you can also give the manual head massager a chance. This one is much cheaper, just a mere stick with a bunch of metal fingers that scratch your scalp while releasing stress.
6 – Listening to Music
I know one of the New Year’s Resolutions last year was to listen to music more often. I have followed this goal rigorously.
I returned to my favourite past songs. On top of that, I discovered that one of my favourite bands had launched a new album a couple of years ago.
I have also discovered new amazing songs from different artists and genres, so I have a different playlist for every type of day and mood.
If you are looking for new songs but don’t know how to find them, my tip is to start listening to the songs that you like on YouTube. The algorithm works wonders and it will recommend you some other songs with similar styles.
These are so far the activities that I am enjoying the most, especially those days when I feel tired and unmotivated. Which activities make you feel happy and present? Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading and have an amazing day!
25 Comments
Tom
Great article. Also, you picked an amazing photo for the headline, I’m craving pancakes now!! 🙂
Kiira Smith
Thanks! That was intentional hehe
Tay
Hi, loved your article. I would like to share my experience with meditation..
I started meditating last July after I made a unfortunate mistake at work. In reality it did not matter but it was enough to ruin my weekend. I had watched a lecture by Sam Harris on mindfulness recently so thought I would give it a go. The relief was palpable, if not complete but was enough to leave me with the impression that it actually did work for stress relief.
I then came across the research on mindfulness, showing that there are changes to brain density visible by MRI after just 8 weeks of daily practice. These areas are associated with, emotional regulation, decision making, memory, perspective taking, and reductions in the area associated with stress and anxiety.
I thought that sounded amazing so I decided I would give it a go and began a daily practice intending to do it for just the 8 weeks and then see for myself how I had changed. Right off the bat I had some incredible experiences. For example, about two weeks into my daily practice I was publicly insulted by someone who did not realise I was in the room. The feels man… I went home and meditated just for 10 minutes and not only did I no longer feel like crap, I felt like I had taken ecstasy, literally, and felt the happiest I had ever felt, similar to how I felt after my first kiss for the rest of the night. In reality I was very lucky to experience this sort of thing early on and I don’t use this sort of experience to monitor my progress but it really fueled my interest, and soon I was meditating for 20 mins twice a day, before work and before going to bed.
Over this time my stress and anxiety has just almost completely dropped away. I always considered my self a worrier and my friends would always joke that I was tense or awkward. Reflecting on something bad like a problem with a relationship could make me feel like I was dying from anxiety for an entire day, a feeling that I couldn’t shake off. Now the feeling of anxiety feels almost alien to me, and i can usually make it go away just by bringing awareness to my breath for a minute, or if its a little bit more intense meditating is always enough to stop it in its tracks.
The new people I have met since starting to meditate actually tell me that I am one of the calmest people they have met, and don’t believe me when I tell them I used to be quite anxious.
I would definitely recommend meditation and mindfulness to everyone
Anna
Totally agree with this comment.
Ever since I started meditating, while driving I no longer get memory blackouts, that experience of missing a chunk of the journey. I’m also a far better reader; a year ago I couldn’t maintain my attention to get through a chapter but now I can read for an hour at a time without losing my train of thought and am getting through a book a fortnight.
Kiira Smith
That’s amazing, I have felt my short term memory getting worse too, I am happy to read that this practice is helping so many people 💟
Kiira Smith
Tay that is incredible thank you for sharing your experience! It is crazy how positive meditation and mindfulness can be even for only a few minutes per say.
I can relate to coming home from a really bad day at work and usually my solution is to watch a TV show or movie to get away but you have convinced to taking a new approach to the situation with better long term results.
Congratulations and keep going!
Patrick
Very nice post, I would like to add exercising as another great habit
However, cooking, for me, is something I’ve done for a long time. It’s good for clearing my mind after a long day. Part of it is an expression of creativity, which has some purpose. I like to see if I can make healthy versions of dishes, or maybe put a new spin on something. There’s also utility. Everyone needs to eat, and you can make good food for a lot less money than you’d pay at a restaurant.
Kiira Smith
Thank you! You can also try having a glass of something whilst cooking because is the fancies thing ever, and if you can make the dish big enough to last for a couple of days it’s even better 🙂
Sam
Great selection of things that can make you feel better! 🙂
I used to be shit at cooking, but somehow within the past year I’ve started to get good at it and really enjoy it. There’s something so satisfying about cooking a delicious and healthy meal. It makes me feel accomplished and productive, especially when I cook for multiple meals so I’m eating a healthy lunch and not spending money on mediocre lunches at work.
My favourite thing after work has become cooking dinner and having a beer. Makes me feel like a middle-aged dad.
Kiira Smith
Thank you Sam!
I’m glad to read that you are getting better at cooking, everything requires a bit of practice and with food you have so much variety to practice and discover new flavours.
Having a drink or/and a snack like olives or cheese whilst cooking is even better 🙂
Katrina
Lovely read.
I subscribe to everything but personally I don’t like cooking – I just don’t have the patience for cooking. As much as I’d love to make amazing meals for dinner every night, I almost always put a steak on the pan, get mad when it’s not done in ten seconds, yell at it, eat a bag of chips instead, and then I would like to throw ten percent cooked steak out the window and into my neighbors yard!
Kiira Smith
Thanks Katrina!
That’s totally fine, cooking is not for everyone even though I’m sure your neighbour’s dog would love that half-cooked steak hehe.
Hitomi
Cooking For me it’s all about other people. For friends and family it’s one of the biggest ways I can show love and appreciation. If someone is sick, I cook for them. If someone does me a favour, I cook for them. It makes me feel good to give them something tasty and enjoyable that I made.
Kiira Smith
That is such a beautiful way of showing appreciation and//or gratitude. They say that the best ingredient any dish can have is love, and it sounds like you use it a lot! I hope you are treating yourself with lovely food too 🙂
Anais
I also love walking. It’s a great time to do some reflection and deep thinking, and for me anyway, moving my body at the same time keeps the thinking constructive rather than anxiety-laden. Great job!
Kiira Smith
Well done Anais 🙂 keep going with the walking!
Gemma
I love walking, it’s THA BEST
Walking also is lightly impactive exercise, which means it will help keep your bones strong.
More importantly, it’s getting out. A bit of sunlight is Vitamin D. Some fresh air. Deeper breathing also helps oxygenate the blood. There is even some research that shows just being in the presence of a tree lowers stress levels. If you do it with other people, then it’s a social activity and that is proven to improve QoL as well.
Kiira Smith
I didn’t know about walking being considered impactive but that’s another good reason to do it!
I have noticed the lack of vitamin D in my body since moving to London. It is extremely important to get some sunlight every day so I am pretty happy now that is summer and we get a bit more sun hehe
Manon
Massages are awesome. I saw a study a while ago that said that a proper massage will lower your cortisol levels (indicator of stress) by 31% and increase serotonin and dopamine levels (indicator of pleasure and happiness) by 28% and 31% respectively:
Kiira Smith
I thought massages were nice but I didn’t know they could be so healthy, thanks for sharing!
Amir
Nice Blog
Kiira Smith
Thank you Amir 🙂
Saraya
Love it! Nice read
Kiira Smith
Thanks a lot Saraya 🙂
Karolina
Nice post and update as always 🙂