Feeling Content: My Five Top Tips
lottie murphy content wellbeing
Feeling content is something I've always struggled with but desired to feel more than anything. More than success, love, happiness. The state of being contented with your situation in life. I'm at a stage in my life right now where I feel just that; it's a feeling for me where things aren't perfect and don't even have to be, I'm still striving for personal and career goals, there's still ups and downs every day, the world's and life's struggles are still present but every day life is enjoyable, simple and lovely. It's a feeling kind of like when everything just clicks, syncs and falls into place. There's little stress and worry but lots of enjoying the present moment and looking forward to what's to come. A feeling of loving what you have and you have everything you need and it's enough.Enough is a huge word for me. We are always wanting to feel more, to get the next buzz of excitement whether that be through an exciting email, a 'like' on social media, a boozy night out, a packed out busy week, a partner's text message, a slice of chocolate cake. But when you are content with what you have and where you are in life, there's less pressure to get these hits of more from external sources. You are enough. There's a few things I've changed this year which I think have helped me get to this feeling of content so I thought I'd share my five top tips with you. Some might seem pretty obvious but for me implementing them into my life has made such a profound difference to my overall sense of wellbeing that they are now non negotiable...
TAKING A WHOLE WEEKEND OFF I live just outside of London and I've only really just started to appreciate that. Every weekend can be like a mini escape wherever you live as long as you get out of routine, you do zero work and enjoy all those lovely simple things in life. As a Pilates teacher, blogger, event/retreat organiser and the many other hats I where for work, a 9 to 5 life doesn't exist. The line between work and life has been blurred for so many years; I've really tried to un blur it this year and a huge step towards that is closing the "office" on a Friday and opening again on a Monday morning.
DECLUTTERING (AS IN GET RID OF 80% OF WHAT YOU OWN) Decluttering, owning less, living like a minimalist are "on trend" at the moment. There's books, blog posts, netflix documentaries about the topic everywhere and to be honest I totally get it now I've finally done it! For years I've attempted to as I call it "get my s*** together." I've done the odd bag of clothes to charity, organised a drawer, thrown away odd notebooks but there's still always been a niggling overfull basket of shoes or jumbled files somewhere. But creating to space is what I needed to do and the only way you can do that is to get rid of STUFF and stop buying STUFF! I spent the whole morning a couple of weekends ago finally getting my s*** together and I can't tell you how INCREDIBLE it feels. The feeling after and now every time I walk in my room is better than the feeling after a luxury spa weekend. I know where everything is and I know what I actually have.
SPEND TECH FREE TIME WITH FREAKING AWESOME PEOPLE The people in my life are my everything. They inspire me every single day and without them nothing would make sense. Why do we spend so much time in our own little bubble stressing! This year, I took a month off to spend time with my closest friends and family and it was the best thing I have done. There's a quote I love which is "don't get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life." So many times this year I've literally forgotten where my phone even is.
STOP RUSHING (IN EVERY SINGLE AREA OF YOUR LIFE) From rushing out the door in the morning, to rushing from a workout to a meeting, to rushing an email and making dinner, life can be one quick roller coaster. There's even a sense of rush I feel in London to overachieve and reach certain goals. Life can be so long, so what's the rush! There's so many things I want to do in my career, places I want to travel, I want to own a home and have so many ideas buzzing around my head constantly but what's the rush. I've been slowing down my morning routine, I've been taking time over every single email I write, I've been spreading my week out so that instead of 10 things being crammed into 1 day, it's now spread out over the week. Okay, it might take me a little longer to reach a goal but I'm sure gonna enjoy and remember the journey rather than let it go by in the blink of an eye.
GET 8 HOURS SLEEP (ANNOYINGLY PREDICTABLE BUT WHEN YOU FINALLY COMMIT TO THIS, OH M GEEEEE, GAME CHANGER)Just like the declutter point, getting 8 hours sleep is ALWAYS something I've loved the idea of but it's always seemed so unrealistic. So another reason why the month away was the best thing I've ever done is because it made me feel and understand what it's like to be a human with consistent 8 hours sleep and I'm absolutely addicted. There's this person that I am when I don't get 8 hours and this person that I am when I do and the second person is someone I like way more and probably someone my boyfriend and mum like way more too.So when the above points all work together, life has been bliss. There's nothing food or fitness related in these steps because to be honest nothing food or fitness related contributed to the change I've felt. Because no matter how successful, how wealthy, how fit, how toned, how healthy, how busy you are, you can still feel uncontent, like something is missing and the perfect goal you reach is never enough! But what you have and who you are is enough. I didn't know that feeling content existed and now I do.