It’s Spring, Make 2021 a Time for New Beginnings

The Change Begins Within

It’s spring 2021 and you may be wondering what this year will be like. Normally, it’s a time for new beginnings, growth and energy. A time when flowers are just starting to bloom, we come out of hibernation and reconnect with others. It’s been one year since the pandemic took hold in the United States and last year took its toll from a physical, emotional and mental standpoint. It forever changed how we live, shop, work and socialize.

A recent Gallup poll reported that Americans latest assessment of their mental health is worse than it has been at any point in time in the last two decades. Let’s leave last year behind us, take what we learned personally from last year and make it work for us this year.

Here are some tips to help you take stock of your life and create a new you in 2021:

Well-being is not just an absence of illness

When people think of well-being, they tend to think of health, such as nutrition, exercise and weight. Although these contribute to overall wellness, it’s so much more. Overall wellness is dynamic and ever changing as life ebbs and flows. According to the World Health Organization, the four dimensions of wellness – social, physical, spiritual and intellectual – are all intertwined and contribute to our overall wellbeing. It is not simply an absence of illness or infirmity. Integrating the four dimensions can help you develop a personalized plan to live life more completely.

• Social – Maintaining and developing healthy relationships, and caring about other people
• Physical – Caring for your body
• Spiritual – Finding, purpose, meaning and value with or without organized religion
• Intellectual – Expanding your knowledge and skills, and maintaining your curiosity

The benefits of overall well-being can have a huge impact on our lives:

• More positive and less negative emotions can lead to being more resilient to adversity.
• Happier people tend to live longer – 7 ½ years longer!
• Being more immune to illness and lowers the risk of mental health problems
• Optimism reduces the risk of a heart attack by 50%

Reducing Clutter in Your Life

For many people, spring means deep cleaning every nook and cranny in your home. While having a sparkling, clean home can give you a sense of well-being and accomplishment, it’s also good to think about mental and emotional decluttering. Last year was proof enough that life is full of messes. Because of the pandemic, many of us were stuck at home for prolonged periods of time. We could have accumulated a few emotional challenges such as not seeing our families or being disappointed by others.

It’s important to realize that life is unpredictable and accepting this reality can help us live our lives with more peace and wellbeing. Here are some tips to help rid you of your emotional and mental clutter:

• Check your emotions and stresses and determine what needs adjusting.
• Allow enough time each week for things that give you joy, such as reading, meditating, exercising or crafting.
• Maintain and bring harmony to your family and friends.
• If you can, delegate some of your duties and responsibilities.
• Decrease the number of distractions you have no control over.

And finally, the best part of all, just have fun

Even now, we can have fun. Given today’s circumstances, having fun may seem trivial, out of place or it’s simply not the time. Although it doesn’t feel like it right now, one of the main purposes in life is to enjoy it.

We are all born with the propensity to have fun and it means different things to different people. We have a limited time on earth so why not enjoy it while we’re here. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Find time to interact with your grandchildren and pets. They can give you back your innocence so you can have permission to be silly.
• Set up a weekly game night, even if it’s online, with family and friends.
• Be spontaneous and let fun things happen.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”