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Your Wellbeing

An open conversation about how we can take care of our wellbeing and support each other throughout the process.

Nicola Martin, shares 7 top tips during #NationalWellbeingWeek.

Helping Each Other

Everyone’s wellbeing is important. As we all know feeling positive about ourselves mentally and physically can be quite difficult, especially in the current pandemic and the world of social media.

There are different ways in which we can help each other and most importantly, ourselves feel more positive. One of the easiest things to do for your wellbeing that always makes me feel good, is saying good morning or good afternoon when walking past people. As an autistic person the only people I talk to are family, so when someone says good morning to me when passing it makes me smile and feel good for the rest of that day.

Staying Healthy

When the word fitness is mentioned, some people dread it. The thing with fitness is it does not have to be a strenuous workout or ten-mile run. Exercise can be anything that gets your heart racing for example, singing along or dancing to your favourite song, a stroll around the garden, gardening and going for short walks locally. Physical exercise not only does our physical health good but also our mental health.

Human Connection

Connecting with other people especially without the use of technology. We are all guilty of relying on technology to get messages to each other quickly when we are busy. The thing we need to do more of is talk to each other. If you are going to use a phone to contact someone, call them instead of sending a message. If you live with family or friends use mealtimes as an opportunity to sit and talk to each other about your day. Even if the person is moaning about a bad day by listening and letting them get it off their chest you will be helping them feel better.

Develop Your Skills

Learning a new skill is a good way of boosting confidence. It can be as simple as baking your first cake or you could challenge yourself to do DIY around the house. If you really wanted a challenge getting a degree in your favourite subject could be your new skill. The most important thing is making sure your new skill is something you will enjoy doing. Also, remember things do not always go right first time so do not be disheartened if it takes you a while to learn your new skill.

Gift of Giving

Giving to others can give you a feeling of self-worth and purpose as well as a sense of reward. It is also a good way of connecting with other people. You could say thank you to someone when they do something for you, offer someone you know help with a project they are working on, volunteer to help in your community and spending time with someone you know who needs company or support.

Being In The Moment

Mindfulness or paying attention to the present moment is a great thing to be reminded of. We all dwell on the past and think about how things could have been if we had done something differently but doing so does nothing good for our mental health. We need to make the moment we are living in the best it can be.

Positive Outcomes

In life, there are positive moments and there are negative ones, we need to be able to take the good with the bad but remember to focus on the positive moments and not dwell on the negative ones. If we all make small changes over time our wellbeing will be a lot better.

By Nicola Martin