From Lisa O'Neill's new book, Juggling in High Heels.
EAT WELL
We are what we eat. If you eat crap your body will look, feel and behave like crap. Have enough respect for yourself that you only put good fuel in your tank. Your body will be more like a temple and less like a bouncy castle if you feed it well. Foods like gluten, dairy and heavy grains cause inflammation and weigh our bodies down. Small, high-protein meals are a great way of stabilising your blood sugars, helping your body to maintain consistent energy patterns.
MOVE
I am not a fan of exercise. Running and jumping hurts, and even as a child I avoided PE class like the plague. But I do like to move. Dancing has always been a passion. Stretching and skipping are things that my body responds well to. Find something your body likes to do and do it. Just move. Every day.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
It will make you look and feel gorgeous.
LEARN NEW THINGS EVERY DAY
Being a life-long learner is what we should all be striving for. Keeping your brain curious and wanting to learn new things will make you interesting and alive. Embrace technology. Learn how things work. Do not turn into an ‘old person’. Life is changing so quickly that we need to be constantly up-skilling ourselves. Do not become extinct in your own lifetime because you can’t be bothered learning.
READ
Theodore Roosevelt said ‘I am part of everything I have read.’ Reading opens your mind, teaches you stuff, challenges your thinking and makes you clever. Go get a book.
PLAN YOUR DAY/WEEK/MONTH
Planning your life will make it better. Without a plan, life is just a collection of days. Hope is not a plan. You cannot merely hope that you get to the end of the week, the end of the month or the end of the year with everything done. You will need to plan.
LAUGH
Hang out with fun people. There is nothing better than a good belly laugh, a good joke, a fun movie. Having laughter in our lives needs to be a priority.
SLEEP
People tell me that they cannot sleep. They need to make sleep a priority. Magnesium deficiency, eating too late and drinking too much coffee or alcohol will all hinder your sleep patterns. Look into what you can do to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep. Buy a new bed, soak in a bath, take sleep supplements. Sleep is just too precious to ignore.
LISTEN TO MUSIC OR PODCASTS
Music can calm you down, perk you up, make you think and make you happy. Work out which songs motivate you and which ones calm you down. Driving and singing really badly and really loudly is one of my favourite stress-relieving techniques!
TAKE ACTION
Do something. Do anything! Action will keep the darkness away. When I am feeling blah, I make myself do something. Get up and move. Pay a bill. Phone a friend. Tidy a drawer. Action will improve your energy.
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