As human beings, one of our deepest-rooted desires is to have a meaningful and happy existence. You’ve probably heard of the saying, “Live your best life.” It’s good advice.
We all want to feel connected to both ourselves and others. We want to feel that we’re part of something important and that we’re making a difference in the world.
We want to look back at our lives and our achievements and be proud. In short, we want what the saying says: to live our best lives.
But what does it really mean to live your best life?
You are a unique individual, so living your best life is exclusive to you. Your best life will reflect your true values. It will be made up of what makes you happy and will be colored by what making a difference means to you.
What Stops You From Living Your Best Life?
While living your best life is all about you, what other people think can have an impact on your quest to live your best life.
Social media, for example, puts us under a lot of pressure. There are specific expectations of what “happy” looks like, and we’re under pressure to conform to what society expects.
For example, we are pressured to look a certain way, wear the “right” clothes, have exciting adventures with eye-catching friends, eat ethical and healthy food, and do charity work.
These are only a few of society’s expectations. It’s a long list.
Social media claims to connect us, but often it can do the opposite.
We can spend so much time worrying about what other people are doing, trying to live the life that society expects of us, that it can be easy to lose track of what makes us happy and what our best life actually looks like.
Start the Journey
What does it look like to live your best life? The following are some practical tips and tools to move from living your current life to living your best life.
1. Be the Best Version of Yourself
To live your best life, you must be the best version of yourself. Don’t try to be something or someone else. Don’t try to be what other people want you to be.
Focus on who you want to be. Play to your strengths and be proud of what makes you different. You are brilliant.
Gretchen Rubin, in her book Happiness Project, created her own commandments. The first one was “Be Gretchen.” This gave her permission to follow her gut feeling and make up her own rules.
For example, she stopped forcing herself to enjoy parties, cocktails, and fashion just because that’s what she thought society expected.
So, inspired by Gretchen, create your own commandment: “Be more YOU,” and remind yourself of this every day, unapologetically.
2. Observe Yourself
To work out what the best you looks like, you must get to know yourself better. It’s your best life after all – not anyone else’s.
Start to notice how you respond to various situations. What are your habits? What makes you happy? What frustrates you? How do you behave under pressure? What gives you energy? What drains you?
Spend a week simply noticing. Write your observations down so you remember.
3. Identify Your Bad Habits
As part of your observations, start to notice your bad habits. Consider the things that don’t ultimately make you feel good.
Does scrolling mindlessly through Instagram make you happy? For 5 minutes, perhaps, but for longer?
That last glass of wine was delicious, but do you pay the price later?
That chocolate was enjoyable at the moment, but now that the sugar high is over, are you feeling regretful?
Observe yourself first. Then, start to deliberately do more of the things that make you happy and give you energy.
At the same time, work on reducing then eliminating the habits that squander your time, drain your energy, and ultimately don’t make you happy.
4. Set Intentions
After having thought about what makes you happy and what drains your energy, focus on what living the best life looks like for you.
One of the keys to this is being intentional about it. When you deliberately set intentions, you are more likely to act with purpose and drive.
Setting intentions is different from setting goals. Goals are your list of things you want to achieve. You can set them daily, monthly, yearly, or a combination.
A common practice is to define goals and write them down. This makes them more tangible and makes you more accountable, therefore, making the goals more likely to happen.
The subtle yet important difference between goals and intentions is that when setting intentions, you decide what kind of positive feelings and emotions you are seeking.
For example, “This week, my intention is to approach my admin tasks with gusto in order to complete them more quickly.”
Intentions can be more motivating than goals because if you don’t achieve your goal, it can feel like a failure and can ultimately hold you back.
If you don’t achieve your intention to approach something in a specific way, you can more easily regroup and have another try.
Write down your intentions every month, week, or day, using whichever time frame works best for you.
For example, “I intend to enjoy going swimming three times this week” or “I intend to assertively build my network in my local area this month.”
Setting intentions gives you something to focus on, and it also helps to manage the feeling of being overwhelmed that often happens when we set ourselves goals.
5. Visualize Living Your Best Life
Visualization can help you to cement your intentions. It involves visualizing how it would feel to live your best life once you achieve it.
It can help you to further establish what you want and allow you to settle into a positive mindset.
To visualize, first choose your focus. Choose a specific intention and how you will feel once it is accomplished. Then, take the time to daydream and allow your imagination to wander.
For example, if your intention is going swimming three times a week, imagine what you will look and feel like:
- What will you wear?
- How do you get there?
- What time of day do you go?
- How do you feel when you’re in the water?
- How do you feel afterward?
Ask yourself these little questions and allow yourself to feel the same feelings you would feel if you were currently fulfilling your intention.
10 Ways to Live Your Best Life at Any Stage of Life
1. Avoid Changing Too Much, Too Fast
This is probably the most common mistake people make when they’re working on daily habits and trying to switch up their routine. It’s great that you want to make a lot of changes in your life in order to age gracefully and enjoy your life, but if you try to change 10 things at once, none of them are going to stick.
It is best to change 1-2 things at a time, turn them into daily habits, and then don’t add in anything else new until you get so accustomed to those habits. This way, you don’t have to think about those anymore and you can focus on some new healthy habits that will help you life your best life as you age.
2. Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself
Do you find that when you try to establish a new healthy habit or change part of your routine, and if you miss it one day, you are really hard on yourself? If so, you need to know that this kind of guilt isn’t going to help you become a healthier or happier person.
It is good to create a daily routine and make healthy improvements in your life, but it should always have some flexibility and you should not be too hard on yourself while making changes. Understand that things happen, schedules change, and sometimes you’re too tired to wake up early, or just don’t feel like doing yoga. There is nothing wrong with that! Just make sure you know why you have missed out on a part of your routine and remind yourself that “it’s okay.”
3. Don’t Force Habits That Don’t Benefit You
It is also important to consider the type of habits you are trying to add to your daily routine, and the reason why you chose them, especially as you go through the aging process to live your best life.
In some cases, habits you can’t stick to aren’t necessarily not good for people in general, but might not be good for you. If you want to exercise every day, but you hate the gym, then trying to force yourself to go to the gym every morning isn’t going to last long, and certainly won’t make you happy.
Instead, choose an exercise or movement that you enjoy, and add that to your routine. You don’t have to follow what you see online or what your friends are doing. Customize your routine to fit your own needs and interests. My favorite exercise is going to the warm indoor pool and doing some stretches, yoga, and dance activities.
4. Allow Flexibility in Your Life
As mentioned previously, you want to have a mindset of flexibility about your routine while you are making changes to live your best life through the aging process. If your healthy aging habits are too strict, or prevent you from enjoying special aspects of your life, it isn’t going to last long. You will give up quickly! This is a very common mistake people make when they are too rigid and turn an innocent daily routine into a punishment. Be flexible, be open-minded, and be compassionate toward yourself!
5. Develop and Maintain a Daily Routine
Daily routines and habits are more popular than ever before — not because they are a new concept — but because of the benefits to your emotional health and overall wellbeing.
As you age, no matter what age you are now, it becomes even more important to develop and maintain a daily routine with habits that are going to keep you healthy and happy. Here are some benefits of having a good daily routine that will help you live your best life:
6. Stay Active no Matter Your Age
For your physical health, you also want to get regular exercise. Again, you don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself to spend hours at the gym or run a marathon. Regular exercise a few days a week is all that is required, unless you have more specific fitness goals.
7. Eat a Balanced Diet
We all know we have to watch what we eat, especially as we get older. But you don’t have to go on a strict diet where you are cutting out entire food groups or trying to eat a diet of kale and salmon. While those are healthy options, eating a balanced diet is more important.
Start making small changes and adding in more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, lean protein, and drinking lots of water. When you eat a nutritious diet, you stay healthy and can help reduce the risk of several age-related diseases.
8. Get Better Sleep
It is a common misconception that as you get older, your sleep needs change. But the fact is, people tend to start experiencing more insomnia as they get older. It isn’t that you don’t need as much sleep, but it is harder for you to get it.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, older adults find it harder to go to sleep, stay asleep, and they have very interrupted sleep — often waking up multiple times a night. This can affect everything from your emotional health to your energy levels and stress levels.
9. Find New Activities You Love
You can enjoy your life at any age, so don’t let the fact that you are middle-aged or an older adult, keep you from the activities you want to pursue. In fact, finding things you love to do can help keep you active, create happiness in your life, and live your best life at any age!
10. Find Healthy Ways to Relieve Stress
When you are improving your daily routine in order to be happy and fulfilled as you age, it is important that you consider your mental health and your physical health. Mental health — from reducing stress and changing your mindset — should be given just as much care as introducing diet and exercise for your physical health.
Stress can affect anyone at any age, but it can take an even bigger toll on you as you age. It can impact your mental health just as much as your physical health, so it is essential that you get a grip on it now rather than later. While you are busy learning to live your best life through healthy daily habits, you should add some stress-relieving activities to your normal routine.
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