collaborative post
How quickly do days really go? Obviously, there are 24 hours to work with, but when you’re busy all day, it can sometimes feel hard to decompress in the evenings and give yourself some much-needed me-time.
If your evenings are filled with getting family affairs in order, and then collapsing on your sofa to stare at your phone before you go to bed and stare at your phone a little bit more, you’re not giving yourself the time to relax and let your brain have some breathing space.
Luckily, without having to sign up for an expensive yoga class or sit in bed with ASMR apps playing all night long, there are some (almost stupidly) easy ways to relax in the evening and improve concentration so you’re not going to bed with a thousand thoughts going through your head. Here are just a few ways you do simple things to make it happen.
Phones? What phones?
Your phone isn’t your phone in the evening; in fact, it is anything but a mobile phone. It’s the device you use to endlessly browse apps and catch up with what’s going on in your world.
So this piece of advice is simple: hide your phone. If you know you don’t need it, plug it in somewhere in the house you never bother spending time in and leave it there. It will be out of sight, and you’ll not have any distractions at all.
You can even set it on do not disturb in the evenings and have the volume cranked up fully so when your alarm goes off in the morning, you’ll hear it from another room and make yourself get up.
Plant yourself at the table
It may seem contradictory, especially if you work in an office to say that sitting down a table is a get way to improve your focus, but if you can find an activity where you’re using your hands for more than just typing and can do so in a manner that isn’t physically taxing, you’ll find yourself with a new hobby that lets your brain have some fun.
Little hobbies that will give your brain the time to slow down and think clearly can include;
Painting or Drawing
It doesn’t need to be fancy with an easel. You can easily go to a shop like Paperchase where they have adult colouring books.
Model Making
Patience is a virtue, and making a model is a bit like doing a jigsaw. You have all these pieces in front of you and have to make it into something complete. There are sites online that deliver kits in one go with all the paints and such. ModelSpace does great model airplanes and even Star Wars figures if you want a couple’s model making session
Baking
Without having Paul Hollywood or Rachel Allen over your shoulder, baking can be a very relaxing activity, whether you’re mucking about with making banana bread or fancy perfecting croissants, so you never have to rush to Lidl on a Saturday morning. If you’re keen for it, read some of the recipes featured on the blog here.
Take time to breathe
Four seconds is all it takes to relieve stress. Don’t believe it? Everyone, whether they admit or not, is short of breath most of the day. Now, this isn’t a blanket diagnosis of dyspnoea, but an understanding that people don’t take the time to engage with their full lung capacity and allow the body to calm down quickly with clear breaths.
If you want to give it a go, the steps are incredibly easy to follow:
Breathe in for 4 seconds
Feel the air hitting the bottom of your ribs/stomach
Hold that breath for 4 seconds
Breathe out for 4 seconds (don’t push it out and count to 4; have a gradual breath)
Do that once or twice, and you’ll feel the weight of the world lift off your shoulders for a few minutes. Make a habit of it and you’ll soon find yourself able to focus on your breathing and have a clear head when you’re finished.
Looking for more ways to feel better every day?
Take a look at some of the positive thinking articles on the blog here, and see if there are easy steps you can take to instill a little more positivity in your day.
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