365 ways to wellbeing – What did I find?
My Wellbeing Challenge 2013 – 365 ways to wellbeing is over. It´s time to tell what I found during the year. My goal was to find 365 different ways to take care of my wellbeing as a working mother.
The Recipe for Natural Wellbeing – That´s what I found. I learnt something that interweaves all the small, big, concrete, abstract, physical and mental insights that I got during my Wellbeing Challenge.
I found a wellbeing model for a balanced, relaxed and sustainable way of life. A way to a life that is based on nature, self-knowledge and simplicity. The kind of a lifestyle that will help me to improve the wellbeing of my mind and body in the future.
The Recipe for Natural Wellbeing in a nutshell
3 Key elements – Being in nature, Listening to your body & mind and Simplifying your life
I found those three to be the most important elements for better wellbeing and quality of everyday life.
Those elements work for all, but it’s the content that’s different for each one of us. When you find your content and make it to be part of your everyday life, you´re on a way to a positive cycle. And that will benefit your wellbeing in the long run.
A human being is a sum of many things. Wellbeing of our body and mind work together in many complex ways. Different kinds of emotional gridlocks and tensions cause physical ailments, diseases and harmful behavior patterns in us.
During my Wellbeing Challenge getting connected to myself with the help of nature´s silence and beauty, learning to listen to the messages that my body and mind were sending to me and starting to simplify my life helped me to see the obstacles on my way to wellbeing.
With the help of nature, self-knowledge and simplicity I was able to get a step closer to a state in my life where I can concentrate more on maintaining my wellbeing. And not just chasing after it constantly.
Better balance in life means more relaxed mind & body
Wellbeing and balanced life is impossible if our life is too full and busy. To be well, we need less. The less things you have in your life, the easier it is for you to relax. In nature´s silence I´ve been able to hear my own voice and find the things that are most meaningful to me.
Listening more carefully to my body and mind I´ve found the answer on What I should do to feel better?. By simplifying my life I´ve been able to remove meaningless things in my life and have more time and energy for meaningful ones. And altogether I´ve achieved a better balance. A life that includes less things, quality things that really affect to my wellbeing in a positive way.
Balance makes relaxation possible. The more relaxed you feel, the better your mind and body function. The balance and relaxation becomes a part of your work, family life and marriage too. You´re able to be more patient, more creative, more efficient, more positive, more motivated and most of all, more present in your life. And you have more sense of humor and resilience to work with all the dullness of everyday life and challenges that you face.
Being in nature supports relaxation. The silence, the beauty, the rhythms and sounds help you to relax. The deeper peace you have with yourself and the more you are able to be the person who you really are, the easier it is for you to be relaxed.
A way to sustainability – Have more quality than quantity
When we are stressed and busy, we are shortsighted and our attention is in ourselves. Headache makes you think about just your headache, and you´ll forget to ask your husband how he’s doing.
When we feel balanced and relaxed we are able to be persistent and make long-term decisions, sustainable decisions. When we feel mentally and physically well, we can concentrate and be present to other people better. And help them to be well and get joy out of helping and being with them.
Being in nature has made me to realize the meaning of sustainable decisions for better wellbeing. I´ve realized how I´m a human being, a piece of nature and a part of its circulation. Getting to know myself as a human being and the biology of life has made me to realize how deeply the wellbeing of myself and nature is interconnected. How all kinds of sustainable choices are the best choices for both my wellbeing and the wellbeing of nature.
After realizing the bigger picture of life and the amount of wisdom that nature and human beings are having inside them, I´ve learnt to appreciate life more. My willingness to pursue a simpler life has got stronger. I do not want to waste time, energy or money anymore, but to make best out of life.
Have more quality than quantity and in that way improve the wellbeing of myself, other people and nature in a sustainable way for us all.
At the center – A lifestyle that improves the quality of your everyday life
The quality of everyday life. That´s the key. I found that when you´re able to improve the quality of your everyday life, your level of wellbeing improves along.
A possibility to sleep well, be healthy, feel relaxed, spend time with our families and friends and be present in our lives directly affects the quality of our everyday life. They’re the same for all of us.
But there are also personal preferences. We all have things that are meaningful for us. For one it´s baking, for another handicrafts and for some fashion. They are your personal sources of wellbeing, beautiful details of your life that will bring you a lot of joy.
I found that to be well and happy you need take both into account, common and personal. You have to find your own answer to the question “What does good quality of everyday life mean to me?”
The kind of good quality everyday life that I’m talking about is a big luxury in the modern world which cannot be achieved and maintained easily. The quality of our everyday life is often buried under our too full and busy lives. We don´t have time to notice the sources of wellbeing in our everyday life and we don’t have energy to enjoy them. When our calendar becomes full of stuff to do, the tension and anxiety increases too. And they prevent us from feeling balanced and achieving sustainable wellbeing.
There is life in every single day, not just during the holidays. To be well and happy you need to get your wellbeing ways as a part of your everyday life. You need to base your life on things that are meaningful to you and that improve the quality of your everyday life.
The best thing for your wellbeing is a way of life that will help you to be well and happy without you always needing to take time off to take care of your wellbeing. You can just live your life and it will take care of your wellbeing in itself. That´s what I found.
Inspiration for Natural Wellbeing in SaimaaLife blog
How do I take care of my wellbeing and pursue a balanced life as a working mother has been the main question in my blog all the time. I´m going to search the answers to that question also in the future in my blog.
My Wellbeing Challenge 2013 was something totally different than I expected. It was more challenging than I thought but also more rewarding. Altogether, I felt that my Wellbeing Challenge helped me to take a big step forward on my way to better wellbeing and happiness. I´m so so excited about my recipe for Natural Wellbeing and all the positive effects that it has had on me already now! There is no doubt I want to continue developing it and inspire you to try it too!
Nature, beauty, family, food, work and growth are the topics that are close to my heart. Inspiration and advices for better quality of everyday life. Ideas and practical examples how to be in nature, learn to listen to your body and mind and simplify your life. Stories and thoughts about How I do it in practice? How I as a working mother, balance work, family life and myself? What are the sources of my wellbeing? How do I find time and energy for meaningful things in my life? That´s what SaimaaLife is going to be in the future.
During my Wellbeing Challenge I thought a lot about You my dear readers. I also got a lot of new ideas for my blog but had not time to make them happen. Yet. During this year I´m going to try these ideas and new ways to inspire you and help you to find your ways to feel better. I´m also making some changes to my blog, add something and take something out. Simplify and sharpen it a bit. And make it more beautiful and fun for you to follow. I´m happy to get a feedback when you´ll start to see the changes!
One post per day for a mother with small children is a lot. From now on I don´t post on a daily basis, but regularly yes. Weekly definitely! If you want to hear more about me than just read my posts, I recommend you to like my SaimaaLife Facebook pages. I publish extra photos about my everyday life and share thoughts that have helped me to feel better and happier.
I want to thank you all who followed my Wellbeing Challenge! Your support, comments and e-mails meant a world to me. Without them and my husband´s help I wouldn´t have managed to finish my Wellbeing Challenge! THANK YOU!
