By Chantal Dalabona
The actual physical act of giving yourself a break, either from work or the busyness of family life, makes sense. It is a necessary and regular requirement for optimal wellbeing.
At first glance, the thought may occur to you to take a walk outside, meditate, or indulge in some form of self-care. This particular article, however, will explore ways to give yourself a break mentally.
Since you cannot separate your body from your mind or your mind from your body, giving yourself a mental break is often more challenging.
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Control the inner voice
Here’s an example: You ate the cookie from the cookie jar. “Shame on you”, your inner voice pipes up. “You cannot stick to anything. No wonder you cannot fit into your jeans. And you expect to feel fab on the beach in your bikini?” it continues, incessantly.
This sinister, other-worldly voice disguises itself and slowly slithers its way into the very fabric of your being. It quietly waits for those tempting moments to poison your mind and etches away at any confidence and courage you have mustered up to this point.
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So, how do you circumvent this voice and give yourself a break? Here are three ways to do so:
1. Become an observer
Politely acknowledge the voice, notice your response, then move on. It is what we tell ourselves about what we are doing that creates the feeling about it. If you trained hard and want to indulge in a warmly baked cookie, go ahead and enjoy the cookie.
Give yourself a break. Simply recognising and bringing awareness to what you are feeling allows you to reframe the thought so that you can overcome any negative beliefs about it and shift your focus.
2. Be kind, loving, and gentle to yourself
Stop beating yourself up. Remember, you are an incredible being. Strong. Resilient. Capable. Sometimes you need a reset. Recognise that you can choose to start over at any given moment in time.
3. Listen to some uplifting music and move your body
When you change your physical state, it alters how you feel.
Challenge yourself to love, honour, and respect yourself more fully. This place of compassion and understanding will more easily prompt choices that better align with your goals and priorities, especially when leading up to a festive, hopeful, and fun-filled holiday season.
Connect with Chantal on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Visit https://ketoga.com/ for more info about Chantal and her unique kettlebells-meets-yoga workout regimen.
About FITposium
This contribution was created in partnership with FITposium, an annual educational and inspirational seminar focused on success in the fitness modelling and entrepreneurial industry. Held in Arizona in the US, this workshop features a variety of sessions to prepare fitness talents with everything they need to know to enter the market and succeed. For more info about FITposium, visit fitposium.com.
Author: Pedro van Gaalen
When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.
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