Friday with Heidi: How to be happy (tips from our campers)
Ten tips from Wokingham Boot Campers
I hope you’ve had a good week, acclimatised to the new temperature and are ready to take the final month of the year by storm?
No?
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one!
How many times do we put pressure on ourselves to do things that we think will make us happy when in fact they make us stressed, anxious or just plain sad.
Last weekend Dale and I went away for a fleeting trip to Devon. As I said last week it was a planned day off as a reward from me to me for achieving something I wanted to do that would make me happy (and it did) and therefore I wanted to remind myself that it’s OK to reward myself too.
I also wanted to go and see ex-Fit Campers Kate and Aileen in their little café in Lynmouth. They’ve been owners since April and it was lovely to see what they’re doing and how happy they are because of it.
My idea of happy is being outside. Preferably near a beach with some plodding about around coffee shops and not doing very much. As long as I can see the sky, be somewhere quiet and be outside I am usually pretty contented. A sunrise or sunset or full moon or starry sky will seal the deal!
Lynmouth ticked those boxes.
I am also happy if Dale and I can spend time together and so I also arranged for a belated birthday present for him to spend a morning with some owls at a wild bird aviary near Minehead.
It was truly brilliant.
I wasn’t sure about holding bits of male chick to lure the owls to me. But I soon got over that. They are beautiful birds and very clever. They also live a very long time and some of the birds there were over 20 years old. See what happens with the consistency of good regular food and daily exercise!
As we left Devon after our flying visit I ticked the internal box that said ‘are you happy?’ and felt pleased we’d managed to do what I’d planned back in July.
I then started to make a list of what makes me happy – because I think that if you can get some of this into your day – what clothes size you are, or the number on the scales becomes a lot less important.
But then I thought, what about if I ask some of my clients what they think – and so I asked my ‘Programme with No Name’ ladies who I am working with at the moment the question “What one thing would you tell your daughter / friend / mum about how to be happy?’
And here’s what they came up with:
- Don’t get preoccupied by what other people think.
- Spend time with the people that matter to you.
- Love yourself as much as you did before you learned differently.
- Happiness is the journey, not the destination.
- Don’t forget everyone else is winging it too!
- Be kind to yourself first.
- Live the life you want, not the life others tell you that you should be living.
- You are in control of how good or bad each day is. How you react to situations defines your day.
- Live in the moment.
- Be thoughtful about yourself, about others and about your environment.
It didn’t matter whether they went to Twyford, Wokingham or Winnersh Fit Camp. It didn’t matter if they were married, single with or without children and it didn’t matter whether they had a job, a business or a family to work at. Not one of them mentioned weight, clothes size or body image. And I know I said name one thing only but some of them couldn’t stop at one and still there was no mention of the dreaded weight word.
If you are to take one thing from this. I’d summarise it with this great phrase – “be happy for no good reason”.
Here’s one of my reasons to be happy…
Have a fabulous December and if you are around on Saturday 7 January and want to set up your 2017 for being the Happiest Year Yet, then click here to grab a free seat to work on it!
Have a great weekend!