How to boost your energy levels and motivation

Have you ever felt like running away? Just getting that feeling you need to escape it all just for a bit. I get it from time to time. When I feel everything is getting too overwhelming I need a reset. Yeh, yeh, I know the theory, don’t run from problems, face them. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advising you chicken out and just run.  Indeed there is no escaping reality and even if you do this for a bit, it can’t last. However, sometimes escaping gives a fresh perspective, it gives you the time to chill and think, detach yourself and see that problems aren’t that big or even if they are big there is always a solution. Worst case scenario it just gives you a temporary comfort which can help you get on your feet, clear your head and regain the strength to face everything head high. Do you have a happy place? You should! This can be an actual place or a state of mind or just some stimuli that help you relax. It can be in a hot bath with some music and candles, might sound like a cliche but studies show that bathing fights depression and has a great influence on our circulatory system and sleeping routine. It can be a walk in the park or picking flowers or leaves in the forest. It has been demonstrated that nature is a catalyst for creativity and an adjuvant for preserving mental health. Some people read a good book or see a  movie to help them clear their heads. 

For me, in the past few years since I have a kid of my own, I sometimes escape in the past. It sounds a bit odd, right? Well, I am just going to explain it so that it makes sense. After becoming a mother, I have somehow gotten reacquainted with childhood and the blissful ignorance of having so few cares in the world. Do you remember when we were children and we were playing all day long, our only care being not getting scolded for tearing our clothes or scratching our knees? Our only worries were getting the homework done in time to join the gang outside to play or not to get grounded for breaking the vase while playing with the ball inside. Makes you smile, right? It makes me smile as well. 

Every time I enter my parents’ house in my hometown I suddenly become carefree again. I do not have a clear explanation for why this happens, it might be the fact that I am blessed with having both my parents around, together and healthy. Or it might be the fact that they have pampered me my entire life and they continue doing the same for my child, maybe it is the fact that the house hasn’t changed at all since I moved out and it is a lot like going back in time. Who said that time travel is not possible? They were wrong. Time travel for me is going back to a state of mind of complete serenity, where the future was awaiting bright, just sitting there waiting for me to take the world by storm. You might ask me: well doesn’t it actually bring you down to go back and realize that the future does not look like you pictured it? Well … it depends on how you look at it. Yes, the future doesn’t necessarily resemble my back-then picture of it, but from some angles, it looks even better. For some reason I never imagined the child I would have. I always knew I would be a mother but did not imagine the child at all. This sort of makes sense now, as I wouldn’t have been able to imagine perfection the way it is shown to me every day in the smile of my baby. I imagined my husband and always thought of him as being handsome (which he turned out to be, by the way – I handpicked him, what else could he be but handsome, right? 😉 ). But I never imagined the feeling of camaraderie we have, this feeling that whatever happens and whatever we do we’ll have each other’s backs and we’ll go hand in hand till then end( whatever and whenever the end is). I might have imagined having a house, maybe an even bigger one than I have now, but I never imagined the cozy feeling I get when I enter my home, the absolute relaxation it brings just sitting in silence contemplating every object within the house which makes this house a home for my family. I imagined driving a car, again probably an even fancier one than I drive now. However, I did not imagine the absolute freedom feeling I get when I drive my car on the open road with my music pumping from the speakers as food for the soul. I was dreaming about all of these as an end, whilst they are actually just a means. A means for happiness. 

They are all pieces of a multi-faced puzzle that shows a different picture depending on the angle. You just need to be willing to change perspective. And this is what my happy place does for me. It helps me gain and also change perspective. At one end, it shows me how it was to be carefree and dream about being able to achieve whatever I put my mind to. I can still do this, I want to do this as there are a lot of things that I still plan to achieve. This feeling of power to do just about anything is a very strong fuel. At the other end, it helps me be grateful for how far I have come, how much I have grown in my perspective of life and the value of this. And right in the middle of this, I have my parents who have been my biggest supporters from the start, and who, whatever happens, will always be in my corner cheering for me and giving me a reason to stand up and fight whatever demons seem to hide in the closet. 

So my happy place is a quick escape in the past with 3 Ps: perspective and parents’ pampering. I am kind of lucky if I think about it… See, already feeling better after a visit to my happy place.

Whatever your happy place is, cherish it and use it as often as you wish, cause we need all the help we can get to cope with life’s twists and turns.

So how about you? What’s your happy place?