annapittard

You can count on your breath

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:58:52 GMT

A small change could help you in a moment of anxiety

Anxiety affects the mind and the body

If you experience anxiety, do you notice unpleasant feelings in your body? When our minds start worrying it leads to the production of stress hormones which affect our bodies, leading to ‘fight, flight, freeze’ responses.

If I had described my anxiety when it was at its worst, I would have thought of it as the flight response, needing to get away. But I only ever actually ran away once. Usually, I would in fact freeze, rather than try to escape. I would hold my body tight and practically stop breathing. I just did the absolute minimum; tiny, shallow breaths.

Whether this was in a meeting or in the pub, most likely no one even noticed, they had no idea of the turmoil I was experiencing. This is probably the experience of many people with anxiety. Often on the outside everything looks fine.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but restricting my breathing was probably the worst thing I could do. It seems obvious now, but when you’re in it you just can’t seem to think rationally at all. Instead of keeping me safe, it made me dizzy and spaced out which just increased my anxiety.

Anyone experiencing fight or flight responses may start breathing heavily and quickly which can also lead to dizziness and feeling spaced out, leading to even more anxiety.

So, what’s the answer?

It’s not the whole answer but a handy thing to keep in mind is to think, “how is my breathing?”.

There’s a lot of talk about breathing and how we can use it to our advantage and it all sounds fascinating. I’m not an expert and there are many different techniques. Experimenting to find out what’s best for you could be really helpful.

What many clients have found helpful is going back to basics. When we inhale, our heart rate rises slightly, whereas exhaling slows our heart rate slightly. So, if we breathe out for longer than we breathe in, and do that for a minute or two, it might well help us to feel calmer.

If you’d like to try it out it’s good to be curious and experiment, see what length feels right for you.

Some people breathe in for three and out for five, whereas others may breathe in for five and out for seven. It also depends on how quickly you’re counting.

Everyone is different so it’s worth trying it out to see if it helps you, and adjust the speed depending on what feels right for you.

When we are in the grips of ‘fight, flight, freeze’ it is very hard to think rationally, but if we give breathing some thought from time to time, we might be able to prevent or at least reduce some of the physical symptoms of anxiety.

When we are thinking about our breathing it’s worth also considering how we use our voices. Speaking calmly is an indication that we are calm and is reassuring to our minds that everything is ok.

So, as well as being mindful of how we are breathing, and perhaps slightly adjusting it if needed, we can also use our voices to help us to feel calmer and more in control.

Often when anxious, we can speak quite quickly. So, being mindful of the speed we are speaking at allows us to include some small pauses or just slow our sentences down a little bit, which may also help us to feel more in control.

So, as the sign says…”Take a big old breathe. Go on”, from time to time.

Of course being mindful that breathing too deeply, too many times might make you a bit dizzy, so whatever makes you feel good, always at your own pace!

Are you ready to declutter and move on?

Sat, 28 Sep 2024 13:04:59 GMT

How does the title make you feel?

If it makes you feel anxious, you’re not alone

Some of us react to the thought of decluttering as if a tiger has just walked in through the door and we either want to run away or do nothing and we just can’t get going. For others of us it can make us feel excited but for some reason we just can’t seem to get on with it.

I’ve written this blog because I feel that a piece of the jigsaw is missing. There are lots of websites, books, podcasts and other resources out there about the practicalities of decluttering. There are also decluttering companies which I know people use with great success.

But first we need to get the brain on board with what we want to achieve because then it will not only be easier but also enjoyable and hugely rewarding.

Why is it so hard?

Our basic responses to threatening situations are to freeze, fight or run away. Sometimes a mix of the three, and none of them help us to achieve a clutter free life.

So, what is so scary about decluttering?

Uncertainty

Our primitive brain does not like change when the outcome is uncertain.

Change can be very welcome when it’s two weeks off work – we know it will either be relaxing, exhilarating, productive, or whatever else you’re seeking. That’s because you know what you have planned, you are in control .

But change that is uncertain activates the part of our brain that comes to life when there’s any chance of threat. That area is called the amygdala, it warns us that there could be something dangerous out there which can hurt us.

And, importantly, the primitive brain will always show us the worst possible case scenario .

Here are a few of the awful disastrous, worst possible case scenarios that your primitive brain is telling you will happen if you declutter, (and you probably won’t even be aware of this inner dialogue).

You will be forced to say goodbye to important sentimental belongings

Don’t do it!

Once we start the process of decluttering, we can be surprised to feel that letting go of belongings actually feels exhilarating and releases us from the past. However, we don’t have to let go of sentimental belongings and we are in control of what we choose to keep and what we choose to let go of. It is our choice.

You’re going to throw or give away something that you can’t live without

Don’t do it!

How often do you make bad decisions? You probably won’t get rid of anything you don’t want to, but sometimes we do make mistakes. The good news is that we can cope when we make mistakes. We wouldn’t have got where we are today without making some mistakes, and we always get through them, and we do cope. We can’t live life not doing something in case we do it wrong – which applies to everything we do.

This is going to be harder than climbing Mount Everest

Don’t do it!

It is unlikely to be more physical than carrying some boxes around the house, so this is a metaphorical representation of the mammoth task it feels like it could be. Here we are viewing it as an enormous endeavour, rather than seeing the easy steps along the way, which we can probably in fact achieve relatively easily.

When we are running away from a threat the only thing that matters is the exit, and to help us see where that is we develop tunnel vision. We can’t see anything else around us, just our escape route. We can’t see all the different possibilities there are available to us to do a task. We can’t see how easy it can be to break down the decluttering into simple tasks that are manageable and won’t feel overwhelming. We just need to open up our field of vision and see how achievable it really is, and when we do it becomes so much easier.

Congratulations to the primitive brain, it has spared you the fate of death by tiger!

(at least that’s what it thinks)

You probably won’t even know these thoughts are going around in your mind, because before they’ve registered on a conscious level your brain has said:

“STOP! Put Netflix on and open some biscuits!”

As soon as you agree to do that, the primitive brain puts its feet up and leaves you alone because there’s no threat here now.

Until the next time!

These are some of the things that we end up doing thanks to the 'fight/flight/freeze' response (spoiler alert, none of these actually involve any decluttering)

• Sudden need to clean something that wasn’t on your radar five minutes before the idea of decluttering came into the picture

• A mammoth binge of the latest Netflix series

Definitely in the ‘stop and do nothing and hope the tiger goes away’ mindset here

• Go for a nap

You’ll be nice and cosy, but your primitive self is ‘freezing’ for sure

• Browse the internet for storage solutions

You’re still doing something productive right?!

• Order a book about how to declutter

We actually believe this to be part of the decluttering process, but it probably isn’t, often it is procrastination and avoidance of the issue.

• Book a holiday

No better way to run away is there?!

And the list goes on, you know how it goes. We are all unique and so your ‘fight, flight, freeze’ might look very different, but whatever it is, it is stopping you from moving on.

Some of us don’t even recognise this pattern, we just believe that we try to start the process, but something always comes up (because cleaning those windows definitely was more important even though you hadn’t noticed they were dirty for weeks!)

How can I just get on with it?

First, we need to understand the reasons why we self-sabotage, which prevent us from just doing it. If you’re struggling with decluttering, you have your primitive brain to thank. And actually, you should be thanking it because it believes it has rescued you from that scary tiger.

How to break the cycle

So, to break the cycle, the first thing we need to do is to reassure our minds that this is absolutely something we want to do, something we can do, something we are in control of and something that will make us happy !

So, what can I actually do?

1. Reassure your mind that you are safe

Ideally, we want to be relaxed and in a positive frame of mind. So, choosing to do something that makes you feel like that, before you begin, can be a big help.

Here are some ideas:

• Listen to (and sing along with if you want), to your favourite music

• Go for a walk (and listen to music)

• Go to the gym, for a swim or run, if that’s your thing

• Spend fifteen minutes doing something creative, knitting, drawing even writing a letter

• Lie down for ten minutes, and this is different from going for a nap to avoid the situation. When we stop and let our body relax the mind actually gets busy. It has the space to work out the best way to do what you need to do. Set a timer for no more than twenty minutes time and chances are you’ll feel more energised and ready to go. Putting on a meditation track can help

There are lots of other things you can try, but it’s important that it’s something that suits you and makes you feel good.

2. Reassure your mind that the end result will be worth the effort

Visualisation

If you haven’t used visualisation before, you might be pleasantly surprised by how easy and how incredibly effective it can be. This is because the mind can’t tell the difference between imagination and reality. You’ll know this if you’ve ever felt scared watching a movie, or your mouth has started watering when you’ve walked past a restaurant with delicious smelling food. You’re not in that scary situation and you haven’t eaten that delicious food, but your mind has reacted as if you have.

Ask yourself “what will the end result look like?”

Spend some time really imagining what it will look like.

Then, and this is even more important

Ask yourself “how will that make me feel?”

This is key because the primitive/emotional mind responds really well to feelings.

Imagine feeling:

Happy

Pleased

Liberated

Proud

Satisfied

Your brain will believe that this has already happened and so if you do the same thing again (decluttering) that’s how you’re going to feel the next time and that felt amazing,

So do it again!

3. Have a plan

It doesn’t have to be complex or difficult, but it must have a starting point.

• WHEN will you start?

• WHAT WILL BE THE FIRST STEP that you will take?

• WHAT TASK WILL YOU JUST HAVE FINISHED? so that your mind knows when that finishes the decluttering begins

You do know how to declutter and often once we get going with any task, we find we get into a flow state and we automatically find better ways to do things than we’d previously considered. So really the hardest part of decluttering is the starting point.

Here’s an example of how you can use this plan:

WHEN?

I am going to do it on Saturday

WHAT WILL BE THE FIRST STEP?

I am going to empty one of the drawers in the kitchen and separate the items into things I use often and things I rarely use

WHAT TASK WILL YOU JUST HAVE FINISHED?

I will have just had breakfast

Are you now ready to declutter and move on?!

Try these 4 steps to successful decluttering and let me know how you get on

1 . Make yourself feel safe

2. Visualise achieving your goal and feeling good

3. Decide when you will do it, what is the first step and what task you will just have finished

4. Celebrate and enjoy the end result!

Good luck and enjoy the end result!

The answer to a sleepless night might lie in the day

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 17:30:00 GMT

As my last blog post looked at the best way to start the day, it seems like a good idea to look at the other end of the day too and think about sleep.

Sleep is a huge topic and I’m only going to focus on a few things here. If you have problems sleeping you are probably already an expert in the subject, and if your sleep is good you may well think this won’t be relevant to you.

But I hope you’ll stick with me because I want to look at it from a different perspective which could help to improve all areas of life.

It’s not all about sleep

When we talk about sleep, we often consider whether we are doing all the right things at bedtime but we need to look at what we do while we are awake during the day too, because that can have an impact on our sleep.

Serotonin

You’ve probably already heard about serotonin which is a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good and helps us to cope with life’s challenges. What many people don’t realise is that serotonin is a precursor for melatonin, a hormone which signals to the brain that it is time to sleep.

Increasing our serotonin levels during the day can elevate our levels of melatonin in the evening, resulting in a better night’s sleep, whilst making us feel good during the day.

Here are just a few ideas of how to boost serotonin:

Purpose

This can be something big or small, but having a purpose gives us drive and fulfils us. Having a purpose can boost serotonin, make us feel good and increase our melatonin. A few ideas of where to start:

· Make a plan for the next day or month or the next few years. What do you want to achieve and what are the steps you can take to get there?

· Find ways to help other people. That is a two for one; we feel motivated because it gives us something to do, and we release lots of lovely feel-good chemicals when we help other people.

· Learn something new, a musical instrument, sport, hobby, or language. It is never too late to try something new. Harriette Thompson took up long distance running at the age of 76 and was the oldest woman to run a marathon at the age of 92. So, take heart if you’d like to try something new, then go for it, it’s never too late!

Connection

Another useful way to generate some more feel-good serotonin is to look at our connections with other people. We know how important connection is to our well-being. It makes perfect sense; in primitive times if we weren’t connected with a tribe then we wouldn’t survive. Since connection is so important to our survival, we are encouraged to do more of it by getting a lovely reward of serotonin as a result.

It might mean seeing friends regularly, talking to family on the phone, or maybe starting a new hobby, perhaps joining a club and meeting new people.

It’s good to look at what we already do and see if there are ways we can tweak it to increase our feeling of connection.

Alcohol and overeating

In a very popular Ted Talk, Johann Hari said “connection is the opposite of addiction”. We know that when we don’t feel connected, we look for other ways to feel good, such as alcohol, food, nicotine and drugs which can all be detrimental to our sleep.

Alcohol is known to interfere with sleep, even if we feel like we’ve slept all night our quality of sleep isn’t as good if we have too much alcohol.

Overeating can be another disruptor to our sleep, especially if we turn to sugary foods which overstimulate us.

If you feel you drink more alcohol than you want to, or find you overeat and they negatively impact sleep, looking for more ways to feel connected might be helpful.

Movement

Choosing any activity which gets us moving is going to help with serotonin levels, even more so if we enjoy it.

It doesn’t have to be three sessions a week at the gym, it can be a walk in the park. When we think of movement it’s helpful to not feel it’s all or nothing. Getting up and walking around every half an hour, especially when we feel chained to our desks can be good for little boosts of serotonin throughout the day.

If you find the idea of moving off-putting maybe try to tie it to something else that you enjoy; walking with a friend (more connection!), cycling somewhere you’ll enjoy when you get there, going dancing on a night out. Think about what you do enjoy doing and see how you can add in some movement.

Meditation

Regular meditation has been shown to improve insomnia. You can do it at any time of day. Maybe experiment for a week trying it in the morning and then before bed and see which is best for you. As well as boosting serotonin, Meditation has been shown to shrink the amygdala, which is responsible for those feelings of stress or low mood that can inhibit sleep.

It can also help you to feel better during the day, especially if you’re able to fit it in at that low point after lunch, it can help with greater clarity of thought and a calmer nervous system.

It is suggested that doing it just before bed can help you to fall asleep twice as quickly.

Sunlight

It is important to get exposure to sunlight each day because it also stimulates serotonin, leading to the production of melatonin. It also feels good getting out for some fresh air.

Cortisol

Cortisol is a stress hormone which is helpful in motivating us to get things done but if it gets too high for too long it can suppress our serotonin. Meditation or focusing on breathing to stay calm, (breathing out longer than breathing in) and taking some time to relax can all help to reduce our levels of cortisol and boost our serotonin as a result.

Limiting alcohol, sugary foods, caffeine, and nicotine can also help to keep cortisol at a lower level, it's important to be mindful of these because they can be our easy go-to feel-good solutions when we feel stressed, exacerbating the problem.

There are lots of ways to increase serotonin so experimenting by mixing things up a bit and seeing what works for you is a good idea.

Perception of sleep

There have been experiments which suggest that our perception of sleep can impact our cognitive ability.

From the Journal of Psychosomatic Research volume 132, May 2020 a study found that;

“when people perceived that they had slept only 5 hours, having actually received 8 hours’ time in bed, their cognitive performance was significantly worse than those who slept 8 hours and were ‘informed’ that it was 8 hours. Consistent with this finding, we also found that those who slept 5 hours but perceived that it was 8 hours performed significantly better than those who slept 5 hours and thought it was 5 hours.”

What this tells us is that just believing we have had enough sleep can improve how we feel and perform the next day. What we think really does determine how we feel.

Changing our sleep story

When we are lying awake at 3am and we tell ourselves we can’t sleep, we will never sleep, the day ahead is ruined; then we pave the way to a difficult day ahead. Instead, we can take control, and change our story.

Resting our body is beneficial and if we can lie in bed and focus on breathing out longer than we breathe in, or listen to a meditation or sleep story, these have a calming effect on the nervous system, reassuring our body and mind that we aren’t under threat. This helps by putting us into a state known as the “rest and digest” state in which the body is able to repair itself and our mind can calmly process the events of the day. It also increases the chances of falling asleep.

If we take control and change our breathing or listen to something calming when we can’t sleep, we can then reassure ourselves that we are talking positive action and doing something that helps our body to repair itself and our mind to unwind. We are doing something positive which is good for us and this can become our new story, replacing the worry of being awake that makes us feel stressed and inhibits sleep.

When we wake up if we focus on how little sleep we have had and how we won’t make it through the day then we are going to find the day harder.

Instead, telling ourselves what we can achieve in our day and acknowledging how we have coped in the past can be helpful. Also starting the day by thinking of things that we are grateful for can also help to change the story we tell ourselves by focusing positively on the day ahead rather than on lack of sleep.

It may take some effort to change the story, but it is possible and it can make a big difference.

Sleep trackers

If you have a sleep tracker and you check it in the morning and it says you’ve not had enough sleep how does that make you feel?

I’m not suggesting you ditch it, but if it makes you feel stressed it might be worth experimenting with what time of day you actually check on your sleep for the previous night. By waiting until the end of the day to look at it, you can prevent it from having an impact on your day.

Clocks

If you wake up in the night, do you check the time? I haven’t for quite a while now and it has stopped me from lying awake worrying about how long I’ve slept and how long I have left available to sleep.

If you wake up and it’s 3am, do you then worry that you won’t be able to go back to sleep and you’ve only had three hours so far and you won’t be able to function tomorrow? Then it may be worth trying without for a few nights and see if it makes any difference.

Maybe you love checking the time – wonderful you’ve another lovely four hours of sleep ahead. If so, keep doing what you’re doing!

Paradoxical insomnia

If you feel like you lie wide awake all night and don’t sleep a wink, you may be experiencing something called paradoxical insomnia. It causes people to think they are awake when they are actually asleep. Research is ongoing but some estimates consider about 5% of people with insomnia experience paradoxical insomnia, whilst other estimates are considerably higher.

It is interesting to consider that things aren’t always what they seem and we can actually have slept without realising it. So it is helpful to keep an open mind that we may actually have had more sleep than we thought.

I hope that you have found something in this blog that may help to improve sleep or other areas of life.

There is also so much information on Google, including looking at room temperature, trying to keep a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding screens before bed that you won't run out of things to try.

I'd love to hear what works for you when it comes to sleep so please do get in touch and share your ideas!

The best way to start the day

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 12:52:00 GMT

So, what is the best way to start the day?

That depends on you. No that's not a lazy answer it's actually really important. Frequently we want to be told what to do that will make life perfect, but we are the only ones who really know what works for us.

Whatever you determine does work for you one thing is universal, some sort of morning routine is going to be beneficial, so it's worth spending some time to consider how you want to start the day.

Last summer I began to really think about this. A friend of mine had been telling me about his morning routine for a few years and how much he benefitted from it. My initial response (for a few years!) was that there was no way I was getting up any earlier than I already was, and I didn't think much more about it.

Then, last year out of curiosity I began to look more into the benefits of a morning routine. My friend told me that he had read a book called the Miracle Morning. The author, Hal Elrod, had looked at many different morning practices followed by successful people and had identified what he considered to be the best six.

I read the book and felt inspired, and for a month got up at 6am, an hour earlier than usual. It made a really big difference. I felt energised, creative, and more productive. It wasn't sustainable though. For various reasons (two of them being teens who won't go to bed!) an early bedtime wasn't practical and for me sleep is really important. I cannot function for long without a good night sleep. So over time I found ways to fit it in to the schedule I already had. This meant being more organised the night before and spending less time on the morning practices. Although this does feel like a compromise it definitely works for me. I think perhaps the most important thing when considering a morning practice is that it is sustainable and so a shorter but more consistent practice is optimal for me.

So, what is a good way to start the day?

In the Miracle Morning book Hal Elrod talks about six practices you can do in the morning, but I think that what is most important is to give different things a go and see what works best for you.

Using the six practices he identified is a really good way to begin and by trial and error and reading around the topic you can determine what works best for you.

So, the six I began with are:

Meditation

Affirmations

Visualisation

Journaling

Reading

Exercise

Meditation

The idea of meditation if you've never done it can be off-putting. It is important to do it in a way that you are comfortable with. There are no rules. You could take one minute if that's all you've got, or that's all you feel comfortable doing. There are lots of apps that help with meditation. The Calm app, Headspace, the Balance app (not the menopause one - that's a different blog post for the future!), and also YouTube will have guided meditations. You can sit in silence and meditate, focusing on your breathing, or noises around you. Meditating is about being, really being, in the present moment. You can do a loving-kindness meditation where you think about yourself or others with love. A really important thing to know if you've never done it before is that you don't have to sit still and empty your mind of thoughts. That isn't going to happen. But you can sit and not judge your thoughts. There is a lot of guidance on the internet about different ways to do it. Meditation can actually change your brain for the better. It can improve memory, compassion and empathy and actually shrink the parts of the brain associated with the fight/flight part of the brain, reducing anxiety and stress. Who wouldn't want that?! It can be so beneficial to meditate daily.

Affirmations

I had never done affirmations before and thought it was all about standing in front of a mirror telling yourself how much you love yourself. I'm sure that that is one way to do it, but that's definitely not me. And what is most important is doing what feels comfortable to you.

Fundamentally affirmations work because we believe the thoughts we have. We have a negative bias, which is helpful for our survival because it will be the negative things that will cause us problems and so it is important not to ignore them. But if we only hear the negative things we tell ourselves then we aren't encouraged to focus on the positive things that we can do and are less likely to be ambitious and try new things. So, it is really helpful to start the day with positive messages before the negative thoughts take over. Even if you don't consider yourself to have many negative thoughts, positive affirmations will still be beneficial.

It is suggested that affirmations should be in the present tense, positive and personal to be most effective.

A nice easy one to start with is a loving-kindness affirmation of:

May I be happy

May I be healthy

May I be safe

In time you can make it more personal to you and focus on what matters. Ideally it will be more specific. For example, if you want to get fit, just saying, "I want to be fit" is too vague. It would be more effective to say, "I exercise today to feel good". It is telling your subconscious that you do exercise and what's more it's going to make you feel good. You're much more likely to do something if there is a positive outcome. It is important to note that if you don't feel good after exercising you may want to change it to something that will be true. "I exercise today to feel really pleased that I worked out". I'm not an expert on affirmations and mine have evolved over time. I would recommend googling some ideas and trying out different ways of doing it.

Visualisation

I struggled a bit with visualisation and even Hal Elrod says he tends to use it if he has an event coming up, so for something specific. At first, I imagined how I would feel if things changed but it didn't feel specific enough for me. A friend suggested a mood board I could look at. So, what I currently have is a piece of paper with photos of how I want to be, whether it's being active or calm, alongside some words that resonate with me, such as being "adventurous" or wanting to be "connected". Again, it is very personal to you, and you might be someone who can fly with an exercise like this. There are definitely benefits to visualising an upcoming event. Visualise yourself going in feeling confident and it going well and coming out feeling great. The brain can't tell the difference between imagination and reality so by visualising it the brain believes it's real and it becomes easier to achieve.

Journaling

I had never journaled. I liked the sound of it but didn't really know what to write. Over time this has evolved and does in fact change from day to day. I might write down what I am grateful for. It is easy for worries to hide the good things in our lives and by focusing on what's been good and setting our thoughts in a positive direction we then notice more good things, reducing the stress of negative thoughts. I also use it to write down pros and cons if I'm worrying about something. There's definitely something about the process of handwriting, it has been shown to engage the brain more than typing. A journal can be whatever you want it to be. I mentioned writing down what you are grateful for, but of course you can also write down what is upsetting you, what you are worried about and what could go wrong. I would recommend ending the journal entry with some positive, future focused intentions. Even if it's something along the lines of "I will get through this", "I will cope". The brain believes what we tell it and if we only write down negative emotions, we will leave the journaling with the negative thoughts dominating our day. So ideally spend some time setting a positive intention after writing about negative emotions.

Reading

The idea of reading in the morning is about personal development. It can be a book, but equally it could be an online article you've saved to read at a later time. It's a time of day when we can really focus and take in what we are reading about. Our brains are very receptive because we haven't yet bombarded it with terrible news stories, personal bad news, or the other stresses of the day. It could be to do with your career, health, relationships, or it could be something you'd like to learn about; astronomy, psychology, gardening, there is so much we don't know, it's such a great opportunity to expand our horizons.

Exercise

As with all the other practices, this can be as long or short as you have time for. When I began, I did five minutes free online yoga with Adriene. Now I don't have time to fit it in first thing, but I try to do some a little later in the morning, a quick run, or swim or gym. But again, the idea of exercise shouldn't be off putting. A gentle stroll is exercise. It's about doing something that you don't normally do. Changing your routine.

Making it your own

So, I have talked about my experience and the approach of the Miracle Morning just to give some ideas, but you can make it your own. And if you can only make five minutes, then I'd suggest the meditation gives the best start to the day because it provides a buffer between sleep and the day ahead. But who knows where a change in morning routine could take you. Maybe you'd like to paint, sing (that might depend on who you live with though!) or bake. It's just about starting the day with purpose and making the most of this time of the day, when you are most receptive and using it to maximise the day ahead. Let me know if you have any suggestions for what is already working for you and let me know how you get on if you do try something new.

Dry January

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 14:17:09 GMT

Begin by focusing on the benefits

How to approach dry January?

How we approach a challenge will influence the outcome...

"Do you begin with a dread, a worry about how difficult this is going to be and how much you are not going to enjoy it? Or instead do you visualise what it is you hope to achieve and keep that in your mind?"

For any of you who decided to have a break from alcohol this month, now you’re almost at the end of January I wonder how you’ve found it?

So often, especially if it’s for a set period of time, such as a month, we spend the whole time counting down the days until we can drink again. It doesn’t help when you only need to turn on the radio to hear presenters laughing that surely no one is still doing dry January? Go on pour yourself drink! Almost from January 1st the pressure is on to go back to drinking. We are told that abstinence is boring and difficult, and most of the things we read or hear seem to confirm that.

Imagine if you saw an advert that claimed it could “help to improve your sleep, help you to feel energised and wake up feeling good, it could reduce your anxiety or help to relieve the symptoms of depression. It can make you less likely to crave high fat/sugar/salt content foods, it will probably lead to weight loss, give you clearer skin and improve your memory”. Is that something you would consider buying? If we have approached dry January realising that that is exactly what we are choosing to gain and that we are actually benefitting in lots of ways, it becomes something we are positively choosing to achieve, rather than something we are depriving ourselves of.

The secret to success for going alcohol free for however long is to look forward to the benefits. If we started off on January 1st believing we were missing out then we set ourselves up to fail - nobody wants to miss the fun. However by choosing to spend January hangover free you’re more likely to be having more fun because you have more time, more energy and more motivation.

I realise that the timing for this post might seem a bit late, because if you did choose to try dry January you’re either still going strong and almost at your goal, or you’ve given up on it. But whatever your situation it can help to consider what your approach has been so far and also consider how you approach any of life’s challenges.

Do you begin with a dread, a worry about how difficult this is going to be and how much you are not going to enjoy it? Or instead do you visualise what it is you hope to achieve and keep that in your mind?

As with anything in life, be it big important things or small chores around the house, If you begin by focusing on the benefits that you are going to experience you can maintain an optimistic approach which makes the task easier to undertake and more likely to result in success.

annapittard

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