We all want to be happy. This is a given. Nobody wants to be miserable, stressed or feel down all the time. Happiness can give us a sense of contentment, satisfaction and general joy on a day to day basis. So, it’s not all too surprising that we’re going to pursue this and try to implement it into our day to day lives. Now, there are countless ways to be happy and the best ways to induce happiness will differ from one person to another. There’s no firm secret to this sentiment, but there are a number of things you can do to give yourself the best chances of achieving it. Some of the suggestions below should help to get your journey to happiness started off on the best foot with some simple lifestyle changes that are surprisingly easy to implement!
Focus On Your Health
Let’s start by focusing on your health and wellbeing. Many people underestimate the impact that health and wellbeing can have on your happiness until they experience injury, sickness, health conditions or other problems that can make it difficult to feel truly happy day in and day out. By maximising your health and wellbeing, you can maximise your ability to do the things you want to do and to feel good in yourself, your body and your mind. So, what steps can help improve your health to achieve this?
Eat a Balanced Diet
Stop focusing on fad diets. Stop obsessing over weight. Stop worrying about how you look all the time. Instead, focus on being healthy. Do things the healthy way. A good place to start is eating a balanced diet. Not only will eating a balanced diet help you to maintain a healthy weight and avoid conditions associated with being underweight, overweight and obese, but it can help provide your body with all the nutrients it needs to function as it should. Start by considering how much you should be eating. This will allow you to determine the size of your meals and snacks throughout the day. The guide below should help. Of course, if you have any questions, ask your doctor who will be able to make unique recommendations for you.
- Children aged 2 to 8 – 1000 to 1400 calories
- Girls aged 9 to 13 – 1400 to 1600 calories
- Boys aged 9 to 13 – 1600 to 2000 calories
- Active women aged 14 to 30 – 2400 calories
- Sedentary women aged 14 to 30 – 1800 to 2000 calories
- Active men aged 14 to 30 – 2800 to 3200 calories
- Sedentary men aged 14 to 30 – 2000 to 2600 calories
- Active adults over 30 – 2000 to 3000 calories
- Sedentary adults over 30 – 1600 to 2400 calories
Next, make sure that the foods on your plate are balanced. Don’t cut out any particular food groups. Don’t deny or deprive yourself completely of anything. Instead, eat foods in moderation. Finally, make sure your plates are colourful. Natural brightness and variation of colour can indicate a wide array of vitamins and minerals on your plate. Of course, incorporating plenty of fruit and veg can help you achieve this!
Exercise
It’s recommended that the average adult gets one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week, or seventy five minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a week. If you enjoy exercise, this is simple to achieve. But if you don’t think you enjoy exercise, you can find yourself in a constant battle between being unhappy because you’re not exercising enough and you’re unfit and being unhappy because you’re pushing yourself to engage in exercises that you don’t find enjoyable. The key here is to find a type of exercise you enjoy. You may feel this is impossible, but it is! The mistake many of us make is simply heading to the gym and forcing ourselves to run on the treadmill or use other machinery that bores us. This isn’t the only option. While the gym is useful for working out in a safe, secure and temperature controlled environment outside of the elements, there are alternatives out there that you may find you enjoy more. Are you sociable? Consider team sports. Do you like music? Consider dance. Like being in the water? Go swimming. Have you ever wanted to try an alternative form of exercise, like pole fitness, ballet or fencing? Give it a go. Getting your exercise can release all sorts of feel good chemicals that will significantly benefit you!
Focus On Your Interests
Next, interests. Everyone has interests. Indulging in them can put a huge smile on your face. All too many adults make the mistake of associating hobbies and interests with children who are more open to exploring the world. But adults undeniably need time to invest in things that aren’t necessarily productive but are enjoyable. Do you like knitting? Sit down for a few hours and knit something you’ve wanted to for a while. Do you like gardening? Dedicate some time to your garden. Into aero technology? Give yourself a chance to read about the fastest plane in the world. Enjoy a particular TV series? Sit down and watch a few episodes. Whatever you’re interested in, give yourself time to enjoy it. We tend to push our hobbies and non profitable activities to the bottom of our list of priorities when they are important and give us a sense of enjoyment and release from day to day life. Don’t think you have any interests? Well, it’s time to find some. Everyone enjoys something and there are going to be some clubs, activities or societies out there that can provide you with plenty to do and occupy your time. Do a little research. Find other like minded individuals. Join some clubs. Sign up for some events. Watch some tutorials. Whatever you find, get involved in it and enjoy yourself!
Focus On Your Friends and Family
Friends and family can make a profoundly positive impact on our day to day experiences. Having a strong support network around you can make you feel safe and secure, while friendship can also provide you with laughs, fun and a host of other positive emotions. The problem? Many of us end up getting caught up in the rigmarole of day to day life and neglect our relationships with others in the process. Sure, life can get busy. We can have hectic schedules. You may have endless work, tight deadlines and other professional commitments. You might have to keep up with kids and other commitments. But always try to schedule some time out of your calendar for family and friends. This really is essential to your happiness. If you can only find five minutes, make use of it. Send a text message, make a call, start a video call for a quick catch up. Can only spare an hour or two? Meet up for a quick coffee and a catch up. Where possible, try to find whole evenings or weekends where you can engage in some fun activities and build some happy memories.
Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list of how to be happy. Different factors will influence different people’s happiness levels to different degrees. At the end of the day, we all have different priorities and different emotions. But hopefully, at least some of the advice above will help you and put a smile on your face!