5 WAYS TO CHANGE YOUR DAY (AND PROBABLY SOMEONE ELSE'S!)
Positivity is contagious and in a time when states are in lockdown, life is so different to what we had become accustomed to and there’s crazy shit going on every single day, it’s important that we do our best to live each day the best that we can, while also passing on some of those happiness juices and possibly changing their day.
I’ve always been a big believe in treating everyone with kindness because you never know what type of day they’re having and although other people may not share that same life philosophy, I honestly don’t give a shit. I’m incredibly considerate of other peoples feelings, however I don’t think that me smiling at a stranger as I walk past them is going to make their day any worse.
Being a person that is absolutely prone to a day fuelled by anxiety, there are many ways that I work on getting myself of a rut. If the kids are home, generally Max will bust out a twerk or do anything that he can to make me laugh, but they’re not always home, so I had to find my own ways.
They may seem simple, but they’ve worked for me.
“You never know who needs you.
Good energy is contagious!”
SMILE AT THE STRANGERS YOU WALK PAST
This is just my non-negotiable and one I use most days, no matter how I’m feeling.
First of all, yes I have become more socially anxious since the covoid lockdown, however I still make a huge effort to smile at the strangers that I walk past and also showing respect towards anyone that I talk to when I am out.
More often than not, if they don’t smile back at your, they’ll walk away thinking about that smile you just gave them and maybe realise that not everyone in this world is a total asshole.
This ALSO means that you’ll need to leave the house, which is great for you.
Go for a walk, pop down to the shops or just tick an errand off your to-do list - all things that will spark some joy in your life because you’ve accomplished some shit for the day.
LISTEN TO A KICK-ASS PODCAST OR PLAYLIST
The power of Tony Robbins voice can be quite empowering and if you haven’t tried it, I suggest you do. Sometimes you feel like he’s yelling at you, but there’s been many times that I’ve really need a good verbal kick up the ass to make me change my mindset towards what I’m feeling and I generally feel motivated and pretty epic afterwards.
This doesn’t just go for Tony, this goes for many amazing people that I suggest you search up:
Rob Dial
Ben Lionel Scott
Mark Bouris
Brene Brown
are just a few that I can think off the top of my head.
If you’re not into the whole “motivational thing” as I’ve heard many times (also had the absolute piss taken out of me for it but hey, I get it, it’s not for everyone!), chuck on an epic playlist that just makes you want to dance, takes you back to good memories and just makes you feel friggin’ awesome.
Then SHARE it with your mates, followers - whoever you think may need it!
Honestly, it doesn’t matter how many followers you have on the gram, that person that does see it, may have needed to and you could have totally just changed their day.
SURPRISE SOMEONE
I bloody love this one and do it quite often. I also don’t believe in big noting myself when I do, I just simply send or take over the surprise, drop it on the doorstep and leave. I don’t need a thank you and I don’t need to share it on social media because that’s just wanky.
It depends on who it is as to how I surprise them.
If they like wine, I’ll quickly grab their favourite bottle, drop it on the doorstep and chuck them a quick text.
If they like flowers, I’ll somehow get their addy and send them a fresh bunch.
If they like food, I’ll send a coffee or donut to their home or workplace.
If they’ve been eyeing off a book, I’ll pick it up and give it to them the next time that I see them.
If they’ve just had a baby, I’ll get some pre-prepared meals sent to their door.
There’s a shitload of ways that you can surprise someone. I mean, if they don’t know it’s coming, generally anything you do is a surprise and whether you do it anonymously or they know who sent it, the thank you a cherry on top of already knowing that you’ve put a smile on their face that day.
DO A GROUP FITNESS CLASS (AND PARTNER UP WITH SOMEONE WHO’S ON THEIR OWN)
I’ve run countless classes in group fitness gyms and also been a complete stranger in many too, so I’ve been on both sides of this one.
As a trainer, it was my goal to always make everyone feel welcome, so it was always fun to jumble up the class participants, get everybody with someone new and this is how the community feel of the gym was created. Not everyone was a fan of it, but that was how I wanted to run my class and so that’s how I did it.
Honestly, it had a 99% success rate of someone making a new friend and being able to walk in to their next class knowing they’d either know someone, or were comfortable to go through that same process of making a new friend again.
You can thank me later
THEN as someone that’s been brand new to a pilates class or a gym class, I’ve also had to reach out of my comfort zone and make friends from strangers. It’s always ended up in swapping gram profiles or finding out when they’re coming in next so we can pair up again.
Please take not, I am awkward AF when it comes to this situation, but I always feel better afterwards!
*Because a comfort zone may be a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there!
LAUGH
If you’ve ever wondered why I share so much stupid shit on my IG stories, it’s because it made me laugh. Yes I have what some call an immature sense of humour, but I don’t give a shit because if it makes me laugh, laughing makes you happy and generally that’s the main goal of trying to make someone laugh.
When it comes to finding something that makes me laugh, I save the best stuff off TikTok or I’ll text Chris and asking him to send me something funny. I’m lucky to have a partner who has the same sense of humour as me, because most of the time he’ll either send me a stupid meme or just text back “fart”.
OR, (and this is a big or) I was once doing a workshop where the instructor told us to force a smile. So we did. It was awkward AF but we were all smiling.
Then she asked us to laugh for absolutely no reason. We all looked at each other telepathically saying to each other “she’s fucking joking right”, but then we did it and all of a sudden the entire group of us were laughing for real and more often than not, you can’t cry and laugh at the same time unless the crying is bought on by the laughter.
(Like me when I watched the infamous waterslide scene in Inbetweeners 2 Movie - I laughed so hard I vomited).