“Is It Time To Treat Yourself To A ‘Life Upgrade?'” is a collaborative post. Please see the disclosure page for more information. Always seek advice from a medical professional.
It is often said that it is too easy to overindulge. For some, this is the case. But if you are careful with managing your money, with responsibilities and perhaps even children to provide for, it can actually be very easy to convince ourselves that we do not need that thing right now – to prioritize our long term health over our short term desires.
This is fantastic and a careful way of thinking, until it isn’t. It can be seen in the mother or father who is so caring she hasn’t thought about treating herself to anything for years. It can be seen in the professional who is so busy with work they cannot stop to try and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Or, it could be seen in the person who is finally financially stable and doesn’t want to do anything that could mess that up.
But there’s no real harm with treating yourself to something that is not selfish, specifically with a simple ‘life upgrade’ that could help over time.
A Fitness Tracker
Many of us have a watch somewhere around the house, but it can sometimes be that investing in the latest line of health trackers gives us a range of more secure options. For example, a smart watch, a fitbit, or a range of other brand options such as those offered by Apple or Samsung can sync with your smartphone in real time. This can help you track your heart rate, your blood pressure in some cases, your daily step count, and sometimes even your sleep quality and deep sleep cycles.
If you’re interested in maintaining your health and are generally quite forthright about staying fit and active, it could be that making the recording of your progress easier to track can be a real timesaver. On top of that, it can serve as a nice fashion accessory that can sometimes serve as a conversation starter. A watch can be a beautiful and sentimental gift, but sometimes, you just have to go the tech route.
Grooming Products
There’s a reason the book Girl, Wash Your Face is so popular. Many of us ‘put our faces on in the morning,’ sometimes by applying skincare, sometimes through makeup, sometimes through caring for our hair and taking a comforting, luxurious shower with a blast of cold water at the end. Investing in our grooming experience can not only make each morning much easier to deal with, but may help us feel more comfortable in ourselves. It’s worth investing in great products here, because ultimately, they will have a direct impact on how well you can maintain yourself or how confident you feel. In some cases, such as hair care offered by Dyson, you can equip yourself with products that feel great to use, are top-quality and also have a long-lasting warranty. Treating yourself to a perfect morning can be a great signature part of your day, and helps you leave your house with more energy to hand.
Entertainment
There are so many disparate entertainment packages on offer these days that it can be hard to know what to opt for. Investing in the best can often help you. Instead of picking up every single streaming service, why not opt for those that you truly enjoy? Why not do a mini-cost/value analysis to figure out which shows are better for you, and then subscribe to said service for a time?
But it’s in how you view that content that can make the most difference. You might have the television, but how comfortable is your couch? Do you have the speaker system you want to listen to your favorite TV show’s incredible theme music in the best manner possible? Why not invest in a stand for your television to make it more ergonomic, or potentially even invest in refreshment options (such as a stocked mini-fridge) to make your media room much more friendly for those you hope to entertain? The summer is drawing to a close now, meaning that comfortable evenings in watching the best television, enjoying the best movies or watching the best sports with your friends can become the new normal when socializing or taking a load off your mind.
An Experience
Have you been on vacation this summer? If yes, we hope you had a great time. If not, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time left in the year to have your great escape. An experience like this can help you cap the year off right, and not only that, but now school seasons are ongoing, finding a travel promotion can be much easier than before, helping you find a real bargain to enjoy at your own leisure.
This is a treat after all, so we would recommend that you find something you may not usually opt for and see how the experience is. This can help bolster your exploratory spirit, as well as serving as a fun and memorable time for you and your travel partner. Perhaps you wish to make use of the winter by skiing in the alps, something you have always wanted the courage for but have yet to achieve. Maybe you simply wish to see what the Disneyland parks are like at Christmas. Perhaps finally visiting your family in Europe can give you an excuse to see said town in its most gorgeous and frosted tint.
Take A Mental Health Day (Or Week)
We can all feel supremely guilty about taking time off work using our vacation days to do so. This is because a lot of people are trained to think that the only acceptable means of taking time off is during the summer, when we hope to enjoy a few weeks lounging on a beach. Guess what? Sometimes we validly need a mental health day. Taking a mental health day can be a life upgrade.
Often, it can be that booking one day before and after a three-day weekend well in advance, you are afforded five days off. Why not do this, and use this time to destress, and completely ‘reset’. More and more people are finding out the importance of taking time for your mental health, especially if working a stressful job.
Working hard to get all of your outstanding projects and tasks out of the way can be your first step. From there, you may find that having some time to sit, meditate, watch a movie, read a book, listen to music, leisurely stroll around your local art gallery, catch up with an old friend, go for a long walk or start that crafts project you care about can help you take a much-needed break from the corporate structure of your job, even if you usually enjoy it.
This might not seem like an upgrade, but to some, simply having the time to decide what you would like to do is a real luxury. As far as that is concerned, you may find that this much needed reset can help you return to your responsibilities with a little more energy and enthusiasm than before. This can be a worthwhile and quite wonderful thing to experience ahead of time.
Do Something Daring
Over time, we become accustomed to our routine. This can often lead us to live on auto pilot. If you find that this has happened to you, do not despair, you can break out of that comfortable routine to a life upgrade. There has been much written about it. However, what is often not written is that you can snap out of this at any time by taking action to a different end result.
For example, going out of your comfort zone to connect with others and start something new could help you meet new people, and start to express yourself. Perhaps you wish to join an art club dedicated to still life expression, or you wish to start a simple jazz band in your garage, or you wish to connect with local writers comprised of mothers in your area, or you try out a socializing sport like bowling. A life upgrade is not always a product you purchase for yourself, or something you treat yourself to, but a new way of thinking, a new action, a new norm.
For some, it could be that doing something they might consider ‘out of their character’ gives them the best sense of joy and adventure. Starting a new martial arts class for example, or perhaps even trying to connect with the interest in dance they lost long ago. Perhaps it’s time for you to start your novel finally, or to simply stop telling yourself a project you care about is impossible.
Once you accomplish something, you are more likely to believe in yourself to be able to accomplish something else.” – James Golding, TEDxUniversityofStAndrews
Like Yourself
A life upgrade can also often come in the form of your self-talk. Be kinder to yourself. Do you have trouble with putting yourself down? Try out this stop sign method to stop being mean to you! You’ll notice a difference in how you speak to yourself, how your emotions run when you consider your actions, and how much of a friend to yourself you are. And sometimes, that is the best life upgrade of all.
With this advice for a life upgrade, we hope you can get at least some of the way to ‘you 2.0.’
",
source:"wp"
});
Leave a Reply