“You only get one life. No receipt, no proof of purchase. You can’t take it back to the shops if you’re bored. Hence the fact that you should appreciate what you have got. Find a job you love, find people you love. Visit your grandparents and get to the seaside as often as possible. Eat well and eat cake. Go running, go jumping. Get your five a day. Feed the cat and fix your bike. Have a baby and smoke a cigar. Camp in the woods, bake some bread and buy a trampoline. Not necessarily in that order.”
A quote from Innocent Smoothies, but I think you get the idea?
Something’s in life are important and something’s are not. New stuff is not really important but your family, friends and health probably is, and so is being happy. Happiness means a sense of contentment, feeling fulfilled and with a sense of joy. Happiness is an attitude, something we can learn, it is a way of life, rather than something we are born with. Of course it is unrealistic to aim to be happy all of the time, but it would be nice to happy most of the time, wouldn’t it?
In this time of deep and dark recession, with uncertainty lurking round the corner it is good to take stock and think about what really is important. If there are children in your life then spend more time with them. (no mum this is not a cunning ply to get more babysitting out of you!). Your health? Make time to go for a walk or swim or even a bit of yoga in your home? Cook and nurture yourself and your family with nutritious and enjoyable food (if you don’t’ know how, then learn) Get outdoors, take the kids / dog / bike and go for a walk? Do you have a hobby you yearn to do, then switch off the devices and do it!
Helping others, can really help us feel good about ourselves and gives a great sense of achievement. There are some many organisations that need volunteers, whether it is your local school that needs readers. Your local hospice that needs visitors for the terminally ill. Or a soup kitchen that needs help cooking or serving? We can all make a little more time to do the things we want to do to make us fulfilled; it is all about prioritising our aims.
So if for 2018 you are thinking of being healthier, eating better food, doing more exercise, taking vitamins, sleeping more or anything else. I urge you to think about your emotional well-being too and work on being happier. Have your friends over or a big sit down meal with your family. Talk and spend time with those you love, because we might take them for granted but they really are the most important thing.
