31 Days of Supporting Your Wellbeing

Week 3 - January 15 - 21

Welcome to the compilation of my 31 Days of Supporting Your Wellbeing - Week 3, that I’ve been doing on Notes every day this month!

This piece is a compilation from January 15th - 21st. Haven’t seen week 1 or 2? You can check them out here:

Week 1

Week 2

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So without further ado, here’s this weeks tasks/aims/goals…whatever you want to call them!

January 15 – thank someone

Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash

This one is simple. Or perhaps not, if you’re not used to thanking people. Today’s task is to write a thank you note to thank someone in your life. A simple thank you can really brighten someone’s day. It’s such a simple thing to do. Even thanking someone for holding a door open for you, or a thank you for being a friendly barista or grocery store check out person.

I think if we thanked people more often, it could help make the world a better place! Receiving a thank you can really boost your mood and feel appreciated. Even if it’s just a simple post it note - a thank you is a recognition of something you’ve done for someone.

One of my former bosses gave me a beautiful thank you card when I had to give up my office because he took it over, and I still have it, 2 years later.

January 16 - do something good for someone else

Photo by Multi Awesome Studio on Unsplash

This is kind of similar to yesterday’s task/goal (write a thank you note).

But today’s is: do something good for someone — a good deed, a random act of kindness.

Like offering to carry someone’s groceries if you see them struggling, or maybe offer a compliment (or a thank you as per yesterday’s wellbeing task!).

Or you can help a friend of family member with some problem they might be having (or maybe just be a willing ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on).

It doesn’t have to be a big or difficult thing. It can be small, like my suggestions above. Or it can be larger.

Just something that’ll help brighten someone’s day in some way.

Even something like a friendly smile can be the highlight of someone’s day because we never really know what other people are going through, do we?

So let’s spread some good!

January 17 – go for a short walk

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Getting outside and getting fresh air can benefit everyone!

So today’s task/aim/goal is to go for a short, 15 minute walk. It doesn’t have to be a power walk. It can just be a nice, leisurely stroll. Perhaps with a furry companion. Or not. Or with a friend. Or not. Just moving the body in a simple way such as going for a walk (or roll, if you’re using some sort of alternate transportation and not your legs). However you move yourself forward, do that for just 15 minutes today.

I promise you you’ll feel better than you did before.

There’s something healing and magical about being outside getting fresh air.

Even if the weather is awful, it’s only 15 minutes.

And then you can be back inside to warm up or dry off and maybe a nice hot drink of choice if it wasn’t very pleasant out.

January 18 - habit reflection

Photo by Jonathan Cosens Photography on Unsplash

Do you remember day 4 of this 31 Days of Supporting Your Wellbeing series?

I know, it was a while ago. I’ll remind you. It was making a list of your top 5 values.

So think on your values again - maybe even ones outside of your top 5. And today’s task is to reflect on any habits that don’t align with your values and see if you can cut them out (or at least try to cut back). We might do things we aren’t comfortable with, but they don’t fit our core values. So find those things that make you feel a bit off, because you know they aren’t what you, the real you, the authentic you, would do, and see if you can stop doing them. It might take a little bit because habits are hard to break, but gradually you could cut back on things that don’t work.

January 19 – do a digital declutter

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

This is something I do somewhat regularly, but I should probably do often.

Recently I went through old folders on my computer and deleted a bunch of crap - documents, old random photos from my phone.

I went from about 1,400-ish things down to 200ish.

A lot of it was old book manuscripts I edited years ago, when I was a fiction book editor.

But I also every so often do a purge of my email subscriptions and unsubscribe from any that I signed up for but never read that just junk up my inbox. Or you can choose to organize or tidy up your social media too. I also recently updated my website (caitlinmccoll.ca) because I hadn’t in…a couple of years (oops).

That’s not really a declutter, but more organizing my social media.

I especially love the email unsubscribing purge I do every couple years. It’s like throwing out piles of junk mail - very satisfying.

January 20 - shake it off

Photo by Hannah Morgan on Unsplash

Take a page out of Taylor Swift’s book and do what she says — ‘shake it off’.

Well, not exactly what she’s suggesting in the song about shaking off negativity from the haters.

This is more of a physical practice - which is to gently shake your whole body from top to toe for 30 seconds.

You can start with one arm, and then the other, and then one leg and then the other, and then you can just do a kind of jiggly shake it off dance to shake out any stagnant ….blahness. Any stuck energy, any tension.

You can kind of bounce up and down a bit.

Shake out your hands and wrists, your arms, your shoulders. Then your feet and legs and even your torso if you want.

Just shake. In whatever way feels best for you.

It’s very freeing and liberating (and kinda fun!).

So take a few seconds to shake off your day!

January 21 – free write

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Do you have a problem you need an answer to?

Pose it to yourself then try free writing for 2 minutes (you can set a timer).

Free writing is: just start writing.

Don’t think too hard about what you’re writing, just let it happen automatically. Try not to over think it.

Just start and you’ll soon get into a flow and the answer you’re looking for, which is probably already hiding inside your mind but you might not be aware of it, can come out of your head, through your hands and onto the page.

It’s best if you do this with an actual pen and piece of paper rather than typing on a computer.

Writing by hand seems to use a different part of the brain than a computer.

So give it a go and see if the answer is hiding in your mind and can knock it out!

• And that’s it for this week’s round up! The final week will be longer than just 7 days, just to get all 31 days in in the one article - but you can also keep up with each day on Notes!

Which one of these small actions resonated with you the most? I’d love to know!

And don’t forget to live with a dose of wonder!

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