It’s the goal we can all agree we want to achieve: living a happy, healthy, fulfilled life. There’s no set ‘how-to guide’ on reaching your dreams, of course, but there are tools and techniques you can use to help set you on the right path.
The sheer amount of external critical influences on our lives as females means that the act of building confidence in women is often no mean feat, but it can be done; and is always, always worth it.
How? Let’s start here…
Get Clear
What does happiness mean to you? Get clear on exactly what you want and stay honest with yourself on what you need to do, to change, to be and achieve to get there. Define self-assured, content and productive woman as the person you’d like to be, and then create the desired actions you’ll take to reach that goal.
Know Your Values
Ask yourself what is truly important to you and set your own boundaries. Knowing your values and staying true to them and yourself will help you foster a strong sense of identity: both the one you fit now and the one you’re working towards. Everyone has their own set of morals, values and boundaries, and happy people are those who sit well and content within theirs.
Create Daily Habits
Once you know who you are, what you value and what you want to achieve, it’s time to incorporate this into your daily life. Start creating those daily habits and routines that include the things you want to work toward as part of your new, happier, more fulfilled life.
If you care about sustainability, recycle and ensure you turn off all the lights when you leave a room. If you want to learn about something new, in your free time start listening to an audiobook on that particular topic. If you want to look youthful, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water and don’t miss a cleansing ritual before bed. If you want to have a cleaner house, make sure you do one household chore each evening. Taking on those small, manageable tasks makes change more tangible and feel more achievable, even when it’s bit-by-bit.
Practice Gratitude
Learning to love the little things in life is key to happiness. The world can be a big, scary and sad place, but focus on the positives happening and bookmark websites like The Good News Network . Take time out to be grateful for what you already have, see, experience and enjoy. Journalling can help you find inspiration and reflect upon all the good things in your life.
Be Authentic
In the wise words of Sinead O’Connor, nothing compares to YOU! Don’t allow envy, resentment or FOMO to stop you from appreciating what you have and moving forward on your path to true happiness.
Comparing yourself to others or getting hung up on the opinions of others will only hinder and stunt your progress. Instead, do things your way, stay true to yourself and make sure you are comfortable and content with being you.
Absorb Wisdom
It may not always seem like it, but there’s a multitude of brilliant people out there, and many of them are more than willing to help you find happiness too!
A quick Google for positive, affirmative, ‘you can be whatever you want to be quotes’, will uncover instant wisdom from some of history’s latest and greatest… so hop online and have a quick scroll whenever you need an ego boost, confidence kick or inspirational message.
I love a quote and it’s almost impossible for me to pick a favourite, but I really like this one:
“If it can be solved, there’s no need to worry… and if it can’t be solved, worry is of no use” – Dalai Lama.
It’s so true isn’t it? Worry will add not a single second on to your life, and it certainly won’t contribute productively to anything. I like to remind myself of this often and instead focus on positivity and progress – you soon find that happiness isn’t as harnessed or as far away as you may have previously thought it to be.
“Life is way too short to tolerate the stuff that doesn’t make you happy” – YBR
