For the last few weeks I’ve noticed that life has felt a little tougher than usual, the winter months have never been easy for me, and come February I am more than ready to embrace Spring. If we had a fast forward button I would happily press it and skip February altogether. Combined with the restrictions we are enduring which feel so much harder this time round, my energy levels have been very low and I’ve felt quite anxious - trapped in that state of fight or flight. I am craving warmth and long sunny days, but although the nights are drawing out a little, we are still in the depths of winter here in the North, and the temperatures are below freezing, bringing with them snow and ice or long grey days of fog.

I couldn’t put a finger on why I was feeling anxious, it was like waking up with an expectation of something awful about to happen, but not knowing what. I also noticed that mentally I didn’t feel like I had a lot of space available in my mind for new things, that the smallest task or request felt Herculean. I knew it would benefit me to rest and lay low (as is natural at this time of year if we follow the cycles of nature and listen to our bodies), but I carried on regardless, forcing myself to work and achieve, ignoring my body and tuning into the modern world’s way of always striving and pushing on.

I suppose almost twelve months of living in a strange and unusual predicament hasn’t helped, our freedoms have been compromised and I feel awfully trapped some days. Missing contact with loved ones and not being able to travel has had a profound effect on us, and then the schools closed and we were all juggling life together in a tiny house again. These things, coupled with the darkness of winter still lingering give some good reasons as to why I was probably feeling so low.

I noticed too, that it had been a couple of weeks since I went out for a walk. We are very lucky that we are surrounded by woodland here, and close to beautiful reservoirs. A friend of mine mentioned she had been feeling similar and had made herself get out for a walk and had felt so much better for it. Feeling inspired, I pushed myself too, and my goodness that hour in the woods by the water was a tonic I wish I could bottle and keep.

I woke up this morning feeling a tiny sensation of hope dawning, this is a first after many weeks of waking up and feeling like staying under the duvet. The morning sky promised a clear day, and the sun is now shining in a cold blue sky. I knew I was going to make a plan, a gentle and simple one for the days and weeks ahead.

Each morning since November I’ve been doing an exercise class on You Tube with Lucy Wyndham Reed. I did this again today, followed by ten minutes of yin yoga (these are poses that you hold for a minute or two, breathing deeply and settling into the moment and are very restorative). After this, I sat on my mat and reached for my journal (another thing I’ve abandoned of late) and I began to write.

The words flowed.

Before I knew it, I had a written prescription, a list of sorts that would be something I could commit to live by each day, something to come back to when things felt difficult.

I asked myself what made me feel good, and I thought about how I wanted to feel (and I knew for certain that I didn’t want to go on feeling anxious and tired and sad). I knew I wanted to feel calm, happy and energetic. I knew I wanted to enjoy my days, and fill them with things that I enjoyed and made me happy.

Here are a few things from my Happiness Prescription:

daily movement - walks, exercise, yoga
eat well - cook healthy, tasty food
drink water, herb teas, and a nice coffee each day
get into nature daily
rest when necessary and get plenty of sleep
have fun, watch comedies and laugh more (don’t take life too seriously)
chat with friends
read books
be creative (my art, crochet, sketching, photography etc)
meditation and mindfulness

Another thing I wrote in my journal was this:

Less social media.

I was appalled to see my screen time last week (it averaged six hours a day if you’re curious). Six hours. I knew right away what the culprits were - Facebook and Twitter and Instagram - scrolling endlessly through a mind numbing feed that sometimes presented stressful or information I didn’t need to see. I thought truthfully about how I felt after using these platforms, and I knew that I could do without Facebook and Twitter. As an artist, I do enjoy Instagram as it’s a much more visually pleasing place and I chose to keep that active, but I’ve put a restriction on it so I can only use it for up to an hour a day.

Facebook and Twitter - I’ve deleted the apps on my devices, and also listed them as blocked sites so that if I even try to access them through my browser it won’t let me. I realised that I spent an unbelievable amount of time clicking on those apps unconsciously - this worried me, because this action had become a default one that I did in those moments where I had nothing much else to do. Kettle boiling, go on Facebook…waiting in the supermarket queue, let’s check Twitter.

I’m curious to see how it feels to not be able to do this, and as time goes on I’ll maybe write another post to talk about the effects of removing and limiting my social media. I also don’t post as much on social anymore, going from days where I’d share three or more posts to days where I don’t post anything. I’ve been doing this for a while now and it feels better for me. The place where I will share the bulk of my content and work now will be here on my blog, through my mailing list and on my Ko-fi page.

So, today feels like a new start, it feels gently hopeful and tentatively positive…have you ever made a happiness prescription for yourself? Is it something you might like to try?

A Happiness prescription