When you are in a state of long-term stress, as you have been with this lock-down, you have been operating in survival mode, which means none of your energy resources have been going towards repair and vitality.  This leaves you open to getting sick or feeling depleted, as your system has no longer been dealing with the short-term stress such as healing, warding off bugs and keeping your immune system strong as it usually does on autopilot. 

Being aware of this is the start of positive change.  Below are my 3 steps to help you begin the process of bouncing back after this lock-down experience.

Step 1: Challenges that you experience are actually ‘neutral props’!  It is your choice whether you infuse them with positive or negative.  So the first thing you need to is ask the question “How can this work for me?”.  No matter if it is a weight problem, fitness, health or mindset issue… there is always a lesson which is there to move you in the direction you actually want to go.

Allow your mind to get creative for a while of how you would prefer things and then let the outcome go for now.  Carry on with your day maintaining your vision of how you would like things to turn out.  This is the first step to creating a positive shift as it all starts with the mind.

Step 2: Understand there is a timeline for things to play out.  Maintaining the vision you created in step 1 is important as that is the direction you are going, despite the time it may take.  Think of it a steering a ship.  You may not see the shift initially but if you stay on course, you will eventually get there.  The problem comes in when you get thrown off by the seemly endless sea of water so keep looking back.  Looking back will keep you in a holding pattern of ‘sameness’. Always hold your focus forward, as that is where you are going.

Step 3: Be selfish in this process.  Now to be clear I do to mean this in a greedy or spiteful manner, I mean that it is important that you look after YOU first. If your cup is not full you are no good to others anyway. Unfortunately, you have been brought up in a world where you were taught that being selfish is bad and that you should always put others needs before your own.  I’m saying it is 100% perfect to look after others but NOT to the detriment or sacrifice of your own needs. Understanding the difference will have a huge impact on your progress and headspace.