Better well-being is, in my opinion, the key to feeling happier & more satisfied with life. It’s also the focus and purpose of this site. So, I thought it worthwhile to share empowering tips to help take your well—being from meh to marvellous.
The tips cover crucial areas of well-being, including physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and social. They have their roots in recognised research and positive psychology, so if I’m suggesting to stand and chant in the rain on a Wednesday, have confidence there is a method behind it. Side note: I assure you I will not be asking you to do this.
Before I share the tips, let’s talk about well-being for a moment…
What is well-being?
Well-being is basically a measure of how satisfied we are within our lives. Essentially, the more satisfied we are, the happier & healthier we feel. Well-being is also subjective; only you can determine how you view (and feel about) your own life. And only you, through trying different approaches, can discover what works best.
Now, although certain contributing factors of well-being are out of your control (e.g. living in a fair and democratic society, access to health care, etc.), there are areas where you do have complete agency. And these are the areas you can address to make positive changes for the better.
7 Helpful Tips for Better Well-Being
#01
Understand Yourself
Let’s start with your thoughts and feelings because being in touch with how you feel is a vital first step in taking control of your life. Mindfulness, journaling and counselling are just a few ways to become more self-aware. Working out your values and learning your strengths and weaknesses (don’t worry, we all have them!) are also helpful in this process.
If you’re not sure of yourself (of what makes you, you) you can’t address your needs adequately, especially if you’re making decisions based on what you think you should want rather than what you actually do. You’re unique, and what you need to be happy and satisfied in life is unique to you too. So do the groundwork, understand and enable yourself to make better, more helpful decisions moving forward.
#02
Be Kind to Your Mind
Self-compassion is much easier to say than to act with. You are not alone if you struggle to be kind to yourself. The issue is, we rarely accept ourselves for who we are, flaws and all. Acceptance isn’t resignation; it’s more about learning to be comfortable within your own skin, giving you the space to grow with more freedom and authenticity. At this point, you’re able to embrace yourself more, recognise your worth and learn to love yourself just as you should.
Practising daily self-care, learning to forgive yourself, setting and respecting your boundaries, celebrating your wins (no matter how small) are all great techniques for building self-compassion and worth. For it’s when we’re treating ourselves with love, respect and kindness, that life becomes far more satisfying.
#03
Figure Out Your Why
It’s time to give meaning & purpose to your life. Having a purpose is a reason to get out of bed every morning. It motivates, inspires, energises and enlivens. It’s what builds your resilience, gives you confidence and can even help you live longer! People with purpose are far more likely to report better well-being.
#04
Help Others
When we help others, it promotes positive physiological changes in the brain associated with happiness. These rushes are often followed by more extended periods of calm and can eventually lead to better well-being.
Volunteering and carrying out random acts of kindness are fantastic ways to help and uplift others as well as uplifting yourself in the process.
#05
Develop Yourself
‘Every day is a school day’, an ex-colleague of mine would say. And they’re right. Each day is a new opportunity to learn and develop – even through our failures, we can still learn and grow. The more we expand our skills and knowledge, the more enjoyable and successful life will be.
Discovering and using your signature strengths is a valuable self-development tool. You can use them for greater career success, face life challenges, and achieve your personal goals. You can work out your signature strengths here.
Top tip: Once you’ve identified your top 4 strengths, try to use one each day in a new way. Shaking things up in this way opens us up to more positive experiences.
#06
Lead a Healthier Lifestyle
OK, I am not a nutritionist or personal trainer, so it’s only top-line advice from me. However, I’m advocating healthier eating and daily physical activity. Our health is an essential part of our well-being – go a day feeling unwell, and you soon learn how quickly to cherish your health. I’m not suggesting you become a food saint or athlete here, just to make sure you’re making healthy choices and getting your body moving.
I highly recommend you read further information on the NHS website about nutrition and exercise.
Related: Why Exercise Makes You Happy
#07
Build Better Relationships
We all function better when we feel a sense of belonging and social inclusion. Obviously, the better quality of relationships we have, the better well-being we’ll experience. So it’s crucial to ensure our social connections are enriching and not draining.
Improving our communication skills, practising gratitude, connecting with people who hold the same values as us, and ensuring we know when to say ‘no’ will help improve the quality of our relationships, helping us feel much more supported and happier.
Good to Know: If you want to build more connections but lack self-confidence, I share my self-confidence boosting tips here.
Building Better Well-Being…
Well-being is a vast area of which there is far too much to cover today. You can take so many different techniques and approaches, which is great considering that no one approach fits all. However, the areas we’ve talked about here are a solid foundation for building a better sense of well-being.
If you’re stuck with where to start, I recommend focusing on tip #1 first; as I mentioned, having a good understanding of yourself will help make all future decisions much clearer. Then I would recommend looking at each of the other tips and noting which ones you feel especially out of balance on; those are the ones to tackle next before working through any remaining ones. And remember, each action you take in enhancing your well-being is a positive step towards a happier and more satisfying life.
RELATED: 5 Simple Activities to Help You Feel Happier
I hope you found these tips helpful! Is there anything you would add to them? Whatever you’d like to say, or ask, please do! I’m happy to help and I always love to hear from you!
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I’ve been pretty busy lately (since lockdown has started to ease and social activities have started to rise), so I’m only just catching up with your lovely, insightful, useful posts and I’m glad I have; with life getting busier for many of us, I think it’s so important that we take care of our wellbeing now so that we don’t become overwhelmed/burnt out. Your tips for better wellbeing have definitely been helpful to me and reminded me that I need to look after myself, especially when life is busy! Thanks Alex. 🙂
Gemma x
That’s great to hear Gemma, thank you for your kind words and your time in reading xx