Are you stuck in a rut? Feel like you can’t get out of your own way? Desperate for a change? Well, you’re not alone. Millions of people spend enormous amounts of time trying to find ways to spend their time better. We want freedom, but cling to stability. We want change yet resist it when it arrives. But maybe there is a way; maybe there is something we can do to reinvent ourselves. Below we’ve listed five different approaches you can take towards reinventing your lifestyle. Keep in mind that the only person preventing you from changing is yourself.
- A Digital Detox
The average person spends about two hours a day using their cellphone. Let’s do the math. Two hours a day, fourteen hours a week, fifty-six hours a month, six hundred and seventy-two hours a year. Cellphone addiction is the same as every other addiction in that people struggle to admit they’re addicted. If you often feel like massive chunks of your time seem to go missing, or that social media always leaves you feeling slightly worse about the state of things, then you likely need a digital detox.
Apps like BreakFree (iOS and Android) are a great place to start. After monitoring how many times you check your phone, BreakFree will give you an “addiction score”. This provides some real perspective, as well as motivation to use your cellphone less.
- Starting a family
Are you ready to take that next big step in your life? Has your partner hinted at it? Does the thought strike you constantly? Becoming a parent isn’t something you do to reinvent your lifestyle, but it might be something you’ve been considering for a long time. Are you worried about pregnancy and its complications? Have you and your partner been trying with no luck? Using state of the art equipment at world-class standards, the Wijnland Fertility Clinic serves as a helpful guide for men and women in need of fertility services and guidance. With a focus on patient wellbeing, both physically and psychologically, this clinic ensures the best development and success rates for your embryo. If you feel that the time has come to take that next step, you know where to start.
- Get a Library Card
In other words, start reading more. People underestimate the impact that a book can have on their lives. If you don’t like reading at all, set a goal to read one book in a month. Allow yourself the luxury of a few pages a day. And if you’re already a bookworm, then challenge yourself to read something you wouldn’t normally consider – you could even alternate between fiction and non-fiction. The more time you spend reading, the more time you give your mind to interpret and understand new ideas and emotions. After doing this for a few months you’ll find yourself with much more to talk about, as well as a “bigger”, more articulated sense of what it means to be alive.
- Consider a Career Change
There’s an old saying: once you’ve crossed the river the boat is left in the water – you don’t carry it with you onto land. And yet, how many of us have crossed a river in our career but continue to lug the boat around? If your job isn’t enough of a challenge for you anymore, don’t dismiss the value of a possible change. Most of us only search for a job when we plan to leave the one we have. Instead, we should always be aware of the changing environment, and try our best to spot opportunities when they present themselves. In many ways our life revolves around our career, and so if you want a real change, sometimes it’s necessary to go right to the source.
- A Different Type of Anxiety Relief
It seems as if meditation and mindfulness are everywhere these days. Ever since the release of surprisingly positive scientific research, the perception of meditation has changed quite drastically. If you don’t know where to start, apps like Headspace (iOS and Android), or Waking Up (iOS) are great for absolute beginners. Taking a few minutes out of your day to sit in silence might sound like torture, but there’s a reason so many people love to meditate. The only way to really understand why, however, is to try it yourself!
It’s worth noting that in order to change we must want to change: the stage of life must be stepped onto willingly. As we reinvent our lifestyles we start to learn more and more about ourselves – and as we learn more about who we are, we get closer to who we know we could be.