Words of inspiration from Dawlish-based psychotherapist and life coach Jody Merelle
Something to look forward to: no matter how optimistic and positive we might try to be, most of us also sometimes find ourselves dreading things we don’t want to do.
It might be a meeting that you don’t want to go to, a challenging work project or facing up to something you’ve been avoiding for ages.
It could be any number of other things too. On days like those, when you look at what is in front of you it can feel as though there is much to look forward to.
Last week our family moved house and each day seemed like a relentless slog of sorting, packing, cleaning and heaving boxes and furniture around. Not fun.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, one trick I have found helpful is to create a moment you can focus on at the end of your challenge or your day.
For example, recently I had a tricky project which I would have preferred to avoid.
In order to get through the day, I told myself that I would keep going with it until four o’clock and no longer.
At four I would sit with the children on the sofa and we would all have something to eat and watch TV together.
I found that just by creating a little moment to look forward to, it made the whole day feel much easier and the time also seemed go more quickly.
The first helpful point was putting a limit on how many hours I would devote to the task.
Secondly, I had a ‘reward’ to look forward to once it was over.
Even though the task itself and the reward of sitting on the sofa with the children were unconnected, in my mind I felt as though I was working hard to achieve something enjoyable at the end of it.
Little psychological tricks like this can be a useful way of helping us get through difficult days.
Using the same principle, it is often very helpful to have a holiday booked for some time in the future. Obviously in these days of unpredictable covid restrictions and most people having to think carefully about budgets – that can’t always be a luxury world cruise.
But planning a short break, a spa day or just a day off work to relax and spend some time doing what you enjoy can have just as significant an effect.
Even a day trip to another town can be a simple and refreshing way to remind yourself that there are other things in life apart from the project or event that you would rather avoid.
Often it feels as though we have little choice in many of the things that we have to do in life.
However, we do always retain the choice as to what we choose to focus on.
Being inventive – and proactively creating simple moments that you can look forward to can make a huge difference in helping you get through even the darkest and most challenging of times.