We find ourselves saying YES again as we prepare for another month of #YESvember!
For many of us at Alive, #YESvember 2020 offered a glimmer of light in some rather dark days.
#YESvember started with our team’s need to focus on wellbeing and boost our moods. The content we used was fuelled by an insightful mix of guest blog contributors who we cannot thank enough. Each and every one offering valuable advice from their wealth of experience.
We send our heartfelt thanks again to: Ben Morton | Steve Brunt | Steph Tranter | Emma Lloyd | Sara Langston | Rachel Miller | Alexander Mills | Dave Wraith | Helen Deverell | Jess Pardoe
The #YESvember focus on positivity and wellbeing gave us some great tips and techniques in 2020 and reminded us about how small habits and changes can make significant improvements. Especially when a lot of us still find ourselves at home but needing to work more closely and creatively than ever before.
We’ve pulled together a few of our favourite tips and ideas from last time around…
What we learnt
1. When, and what type of, media we consume can have a great impact on how we feel.
2. Putting habits in place to break up your day can create a better work/life balance.
3. It’s important to be proactive and intentional with your state of mind.
4. Learning to say no more, for your own sake, and for the right reasons is ok and can give you the space you need to improve your wellbeing.
5. How we can all hone our resilience superpowers by developing skills to cope with adversity.
6. Sharpening cognitive behaviour is possible by using small CBT techniques each day.
7. Practicing daily gratitude and giving yourself a small challenge for the day can support and lift your mood.
8. Developing a mantra to represent our intentions can help to deal with uncertainty.
Our top takeaways
1. Gratitude journaling and using the 3 good things app was a firm favourite with several of our team members.
‘I can’t believe how much it changes your mindset to a more positive one.’ James
2. Introducing the Worry Time Technique into your day can save us time when being distracted by the small things.
‘This has been a super useful technique for me. As a born worrier I am more aware of when my feelings are taking over and now make time for thinking things through rather than them consuming me all day.’ Ally
3. Valuing downtime and embracing the Danish concept of Hygge by creating a warm and cosy environment can help you enjoy the good things in life with good people.
‘I’m not the best at slowing down and relaxing but I was inspired by this idea, and it’s enabled me to spend more time relaxing with my children.’ Caroline
4. Learning how to reframe situations can help you decide whether things are important and constructive for you at a certain point in time.
‘If there’s one thing lockdown(s) have taught us is that sometimes you just have to adapt and go with the flow. As a person that likes to feel like I’m in control of everything, sometimes that can go into overdrive and I start to take on more than I can cope with or need to be involved with. The reframing questions really help you decide what is important and what you can practically do to get life running more smoothly’. Rob
If you didn’t get a chance to read the blogs before, grab yourself a drink and have a gander through our guest posts!
We look forward to sharing plenty more with you throughout November!
