It is said that:
“A (wo)man without a vision for his/her future will always return to the past”.
This is a quote that I often bear in mind and I truly believe that having a vision in life is a major antidote to stress and depression.
It makes sense because if you are hopeful for your future, with goals that you are actively working towards, then there’s less of a focus on yourself and the small annoyances of everyday life and any setbacks are less likely to knock you off course.
You also feel more in control of your future and confident in your abilities to shape your own life and destiny.
You feel more resourceful.
A lot of anxiety and depression can come from where we’re too self-focussed.
I’ve said many times that stress makes us more selfish because if we are caught up in our mind worrying and focussing on potential threats and more immediate concerns, it’s very hard to simultaneously have a big-picture and more altruistic perspective.
So, there are two parts to my advice today:
Firstly, as always, it’s to do what you can to keep your stress levels low — not just for your mental, physical and emotional health — which therefore affects your overall life experience; But for who you become and what’s possible when you’re not wired on stress…
You won’t just be happier, you will be more generous, kind, resilient and optimistic.
And I don’t think it’s too bold of me to say that you may very well achieve more in life if we consider the main point of this blog post.
Secondly, take some time to create or reconnect to your goals. One benefit is that this will help to reduce your short and long-term stress levels through cultivating an underlying sense of resourcefulness and hopefulness.
Right now, many of us have the opportunity to look at life a little differently and it is therefore a fantastic time to create some goals.
You ideally want to look at your goals in relation to all areas of your life:
- Career goals
- Financial goals
- Personal Development goals
- Spiritual goals
- Educational goals
- Relationship goals
- Health and wellbeing goals
Be mindful of not being too ambitious and committing to lots of goals in every single area because this will most likely set you up to fail.
I suggest creating your goals for each area and then going back and prioritising those goals and looking at how much time you need to invest in each — goals can be short-term, long-term and lifetime.
My intention for this blog post is to get you thinking about life and making the most of the opportunity we currently have for deep reflection.
I often help clients work out what they really want for their future – We then set their goals and start working towards achieving them with a high level of accountability. It truly is amazing what can happen in six to twelve months. If you feel you’d like some help in working out and actualising your goals, contact us here to enquire about a complimentary consultation to see if working together would be a good fit.
Kate x
