The world has had it rough over the last 18 months, dealing with COVID19, in and out of lockdowns, a complete disruption and change to ‘normal’ life. Our collective mental health has suffered and the unknown of the future is a big pill to swallow. It’s understandable to feel like things are out of our control when the signposts keep moving. 

So what can we control? 

With the fluctuates of in lockdown, out of lockdown, and the constant changing of routines, we’ve built a list of 6 core habits to maintain in whatever stages the state may be in. Building or maintaining habits through all of this instability can be challenging, we’ve outlined a few tips to tricks to make it easier. Ticking these core habits off your daily routine will help you feel energised, healthy and can improve your mental health. 

Your Core Habits

1. Go for a walk – getting outside and moving your body will give you a big breath of fresh air and help to clear your mind.

2. Check-in with a friend – staying connected is really important for your relationships and your moods, having someone to talk to or being supportive of your loved ones

3. Find a mindful moment – whether its a cup of coffee or tea, reading a book, meditating, journaling or just taking a breather, it’s important to check-in with yourself in these mindful moments to recognise and process what’s going on in your mind

4. Move every day – stretching, foam rolling, a 23W workout or an outdoor activity will get those endorphins pumping giving you a good dose of chemical feel-good in the body

5. Express yourself – use something creative, dance to your favourite music, write or draw something, do a puzzle, whatever it is find something that helps you to express yourself with no pressures of external factors, something just for you

6. Have 2-3 serves of vegetables – it’s important to ensure we are nourishing ourselves with good food and getting a bunch of micronutrients in our diet so that we can feel as energised as possible

Start to check these things of your routine in whatever ways work best for you. Consistently nailing these will increase your energy levels, reduce your mental load and help you feel in control of your daily life. 

Habit Stacking

If you are wanting to build these habits, a great tool to use is habit stacking. This is where you complete a new habit alongside an already established habit. For example, you might like to add in 5 minutes of journaling with your morning coffee or you could go for a walk to get your morning coffee. Plan your workout or form of movement before breakfast or when you finish work, or you could do an activity expressing yourself when you finish work. 

Finding moments in your day that you already do automatically and tying in your new habit is a great way to trigger the action of this new habit you are building. You can also swap poor habits with these new habits, so you use the thought of the poor habit to trigger your new habit instead. 

Studies show that building a daily routine helps to alleviate anxiety, reduce stress, improve relationships, helps to cope with change and promotes healthy habits. We recommend having some sort of checklist to tick off each day for the habits you are building so that you can stay on track.

It can be hard to build a new routine, but if you miss it once, aim to not miss it twice and you will slowly but surely be on your way to building a routine that lasts. 

The 23W team is sending love and health to all of our community and we hope to see you soon!