You often hear about well-being. But do you know what well-being definition is? Find out about 50 surprisingly easy ways to improve your well-being now!
When writing academic manuscripts, we need to present novel ideas, thoughts and discoveries.
As researchers and academics, we tend to have rather busy lives. This starts from the very beginning of your PhD programme – you want to push the boundaries of the knowledge so you must work hard and work a lot, right?
But let me ask you the following questions:
How often do you feel overwhelmed?
How often do you feel that your PhD doesn’t have sense?
How often do you take care of your wellbeing?
That’s right, the amount of work you put in doing your PhD can put a lot of stress on your wellbeing. As I discussed before, you can burn out by pushing too hard.
Do you wonder why wellbeing is important? Well, it’s fundamental to your sustainable motivation and work-life balance.
Therefore, here I share 50 ways in which you can improve your wellbeing!
Table of Contents
Wellbeing definition
Have you ever wondered how to define wellbeing? According to Wellbeing People, the term “wellbeing” represents “healthy, contented and prosperous condition we all aspire to“.
This means that:
- we live a healthy life
- we are happy about our life
- we aspire to prosper in our life
To achieve wellbeing, our day-to-day actions need to support the above mentioned conditions.
What are the indicators of wellbeing?
As wellbeing is multifaced characteristic of our lives, there’s a lot of parameters that can describe it.
Let’s consider the Office for National Statistics in the UK. They consider wellbeing as “individual’s feeling of satisfaction with life, whether they feel the things they do in their lives are worthwhile and their positive and negative emotions“.
To assess wellbeing, they distinguish several measures, including:
- life satisfaction
- how worthwhile the things you do are
- happiness
- anxiety
- mental health (wellbeing)
Which one do you think is the most important?
How do you improve wellbeing?
- Go for a walk in a forest or a park
- Listen to your favourite music
- Switch off social media and detach from the technology
- Start writing a journal
- Call your friend or family
- Reflect on your recent success and put it in a “success jar”
- Learn to meditate and schedule meditation in your daily plan
- Take a yoga class
- Go swimming
- Go to the beach and listen to the sound of the sea (or ocean depending on where you live)
- Change your environment to less noisy and free of distractions
- Cut off from energy vampires – people who drain your energy for their own benefit
- Try to focus on here and now (i.e. enjoy the taste of your coffee or tea)
- Plan your day (and try to stick to it, including wellbeing breaks)
- Plan your relax time and allow yourself to take a break
- Build healthy habits (i.e. consider breaks and try to wake up 5 minutes earlier to avoid the rush in the morning)
- Learn something new (i.e. new language or learn to play the ukulele)
- Explore your local area (and show us what you’ve found by tagging us on Instagram @MotivatedAcademic)
- Try something completely new (i.e. new sport)
- Read an inspiring book (and recommend it to the others)
- Take a day off and focus on yourself
- Go hiking and climb a mountain
- Send thank you messages to your friends and family
- Reflect on your life goals and add a few new ones
- Eat healthy food (as a way to healthier life!)
- Take care of your health (i.e. visit health advisor)
- Learn to think outside the box (i.e brainstorming techniques)
- Take a good nap
- Take care of your healthy sleep routine
- Learn to let things go
- Bury the hatchet with your colleague, friend, family member…
- Plant a tree (and help us to save the planet)
- Get a plant
- If you live alone, adopt a cat or a dog or any other animal (if you can and LOVE animals!)
- Write a novel
- Write a blog
- Pick up your camera (or phone) and take lots of pictures in your neighbourhood
- Observe nature
- Develop a morning routine
- Meet with friends and family (considering social distancing!)
- Slow down and reflect on your life
- Go out and enjoy the sun
- Find the best place to watch sunrise/sunset in your local area
- Learn to say no
- Sing out laud
- Read/watch something funny and laugh…a lot!
- Surprise yourself with a treat
- Learn to brew a new type of coffee
- Explore exotic teas and fruits
- Learn to cook a new dish (and share it with your friends if possible)
A final word…
It’s worthwhile to consider your wellbeing as early in your academic career as possible.
This won’t only help you be happier in your life, but will help you better cope with challenges and achieve sustainable motivation in your work.
How do you find ways to improve your wellbeing I shared here? What would you add? Share your thoughts in the comments!
