7 Little Changes You Can Do Today To Make Your Life Better

Who says you can’t rely on a quick fix?

It’s a new year, and most of us have resolutions, changes that we want to make in our lives to make it better. Resolutions tend to be big changes, which take more time and energy, but what about when we need a quick fix?

I have been feeling like shit. And I don’t like this feeling. I know I need to change some things in my life to start feeling better. So I decided to start small to be able to shift slowly and steadily how I am feeling. Here are some of the things I am doing to make me feel better, and I recommend you do the same:

1. Let it go a goal that is putting you down

I always wanted to do a 30 days yoga challenge with Yoga with Adrianne. I wanted to do it in 2020, in 2021, and now she has started the challenge in 2022, which I started doing without enjoying it, but I have consistently failed, and the truth is, I don’t like her style of teaching; it’s just not for me.

So finally, this week I decided, it’s never going to happen. It just doesn’t work for me. Instead, I prefer doing Yoga classes in person, so I have signed up for a class this Saturday and Sunday, and I am feeling much better. By the way, I was able to finish a 30 days yoga challenge with Cassandra in July/2021; it was only 10 min every morning.

The lesson is to do what works for you because some stuff doesn’t. And to reach one goal, there are many ways. If the goal is to exercise more, you have many alternatives; pick the one that works for you.

2. Associate each day of a week with something that brings you joy

I want to feel more joy in my life, and I have been thinking about this recently. For me, the feeling of joy needed to be intense, kind of an orgasm about life, but it doesn’t. And also, I was relating joy with big things, like swimming with dolphins in Hawaii or having the Louvre for yourself for a day, and these are things very unlikely to happen in my life.

Then I realised that joy could come in small doses, which doesn’t make them less enjoyable. The action here is to enjoy playing with random stuff as a kid. So at the moment, I have some things that I enjoy: on Thursdays, I enjoy watching And Just Like That in the middle of the morning (naughty) and now on Mondays, I enjoy watching Euphoria with my partner after dinner with a hot chocolate. I want to have one day of the week that I allow myself to buy a coffee and another day that I can eat cake. I still haven’t figured out what I am associating each day of a week with, but I am excited to do it.

By associating each day of a week with something that brings you joy, you will have something to look forward to every day and be grateful for.

3. Find a new music artist and listen to one entire album.

I have Spotify, and I know I am underusing it. Every year, when I see how many hours people listen to music compared to mine, I know I could be making my days more enjoyable. Lately, I have had a hard time connecting to music, so I am challenging myself to find a new music artist and listen to a whole album.

Discovering new music is an easy way to lift spirits and feel good.

4. Drink water (and start going to the bathroom so many times that you won’t have time to feel like shit, just annoyed with your bladder).

I got a 2-litre bottle of water for Christmas, and since then, I have been drinking the whole thing almost every day. Before that, I didn’t drink any water or very little. It was kind of impressive. I am kind of happy to be drinking more water, but it does make me spend more time in the bathroom than I would like.

5. Create a signature look, which makes you feel good

From Monday to Friday, I don’t actually need to leave my house because I work from home. Now that I signed up for the gym, I have a place to go, and I want to look good.

Since the pandemic, my shopping habits have changed drastically. I never buy new clothes, but last year, I got some new jackets I wanted. My first instinct was not to wear them to save them for when I go out, but this is no good because I want to look put together every day.

In our society, we tend to dress for other people and not for ourselves, so I want to change that. So now I am wearing one of them to go to the gym. This new jacket is trendy and makes me feel cool. It’s a start, and I am still working on getting my signature look.

6. Improve your salad game (and get a favourite salad bowl)

Once you learn that salads don’t need to be boring, your life will change. One of the things I stopped doing and helped me put weight on was eating salads. So in 2022, I am back on my game. Salads are great because you can pack them with nutritional value, they are high volume and not so high in calories (depending on what you add), and you can add so many different things to your salad to keep them interesting with flavours and textures.

I love starting with mixed leaves and adding peas, corn, shredded carrots, shredded beets, shredded low-fat cheese, roasted cauliflower, roasted broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, red onions, red onions pickled, red, yellow and green peppers finely chopped, and then you can add boiled eggs, tuna, chicken, salmon or anything you want as a source of protein. You can mix and match these ingredients.

This is a complete meal. For toppings, in Brazil, there is something called savoury granola, so I used to add this, but now sometimes, I add some seeds mix, which I need to toast and season to see if it tastes better, and the dressing, I love honey mustard one and balsamic vinaigrette, but I always buy the lighter versions. YUMMY!!! And what makes this meal special is having a favourite salad bowl, the one that you feel most comforted by.

7. Start tracking your money with a spreadsheet

I went from unemployed and on benefits (2020) to full-time employed and with a side hustle (Hello, Medium). I don’t make lots of money, so I needed to learn how to manage my money well if I wanted to change my life for the better.

For almost two years now, I have been tracking my money with spreadsheets, so I know exactly what’s going on in my financial life. I now have an Emergency Fund with more than £10,000, and I only achieved this because of spreadsheets. I also have an extra account with money that I am saving to pay for my British Citizenship in August and my ticket to Brazil in December.

Spreadsheets help you budget and keep on track.

I love saving money, and this has become part of my life. Every month no matter what, I put aside an amount that will make me achieve my yearly goal. This doesn’t give me a headache anymore; although I am not happy with my financial situation, I am not unhappy with it. And that’s enough for now.