Focus on what you can control

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Are you familiar with the Serenity Affirmation?

“Grant me the SERENITY to ACCEPT the things I cannot change, COURAGE to change the things I can and the WISDOM to know the difference”.

In simple terms it is a reminder to stay aware of those things in your life that you do have some control over and those which you don’t. When significant personal or wider events change the way we live, they often leave many things out of our control. It is vitally important during these times that you identify those areas of your life that are within your control and focus committed action in these areas.

 

Compounding the overwhelm

We will often spend a lot of our time and energy focusing on these factors out of our control, especially when we are feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or overwhelmed and unfortunately this tends to compound the overwhelmingness. The prime example of COVID19 information constantly bombarding us on TV, radio and social media highlights how these overwhelmed feelings can dramatically increase, so it is important we manage our exposure to keep stress levels under control.

 

What’s in your control?

To keep your mental wellbeing in check, it’s crucial that you focus on what you can directly influence right now. What you eat and drink, how much you move, how you sleep, how you communicate, how and who you connect with, how you relax / switch off and how you think. 

 

Setting up your action plan

So what can you do today that is taking a step in the right direction to support your mental wellbeing? Ask yourself:

• Am I staying connected with my social circle?
• Am I eating good quality food with plenty of fruit and veg? 
• Am I doing some physical activity to help me sleep and burn up stress chemicals?
• Am I switching off screens well before bed and reading a book so I can get to sleep easier?
• Am I practicing mindfulness to practice observing my thoughts rather than getting tangled up with them?
• Am I practicing gratitude to remind myself of what’s going well in my life to counteract my brains natural tendency to focus on the negative?

 

Start with one action

Focusing on just one simple action to start with increases the chance for this to become a normal lifestyle habit significantly. Making one action a habit will give you a great sense of control and confidence to then be able to move onto focusing on more controllable lifestyle changes that will positively influence your mental and physical wellbeing.