Sometimes the best laid plans go to waste. When a relationship crumbles it is tempting to fall apart with it. But it is all about your state of mind; don’t wallow in bad habits and succumb to the tempting cycle of self destruction. With a little support and a healthy dose of motivation, you can turn a bad situation into a powerful opportunity to reinvent yourself. These healthy ways to get over your breakup will not only make you feel better about what just ended, but can lay the foundation for great things to come.
- Volunteer for a cause:
Volunteering for an active charity can greatly increase your health and wellbeing. Getting outside and being on your feet throughout the day increases your steps, yay cardio! Active organizations like Habitat For Humanity promote physical activity by helping build homes for those in need. American Red Cross is another great charity that promotes active living while providing services wherever needed. If you’re an animal lover, check out the SPCA. Taking care of animals and having a temporary companion is great for your mental health as well.
- Make a list of all of the positive things in your life:
When you take a moment and reflect on the good in your life, you’ll be amazed at how it impacts your mental health. Focusing on the positive things reduces your stress levels, so jot all the great things you have going on a piece of paper. List-making helps organize or de-clutter your thoughts and boosts your brainpower. So put that pen to paper and get writing for your health!
- Spend time in prayer or meditation:
Spirituality has a number of great health benefits, including everything from reducing stress to increasing self-awareness. Prayer and meditation are great ways to reduce the negativity that you just survived by laying the building blocks for something better. While slowing down your breathing, your heart rate decreases which relaxes your whole body. Try either of these every morning (or night) and you’ll be surprised how this peaceful practice affects your spirit for the better.
- Build good habits:
Good habits are essential to living a healthy lifestyle. For start, sleeping around 8 hours a night is an excellent habit to pick up. Sleep is known to impact many areas of health such as your weight, mood, and even heart. Getting enough shut-eye every night not only keeps you fit but keeps you happy and more focused. Another healthy habit to start doing is DRINK MORE WATER! Make it a habit to drink half your body weight in ounces every day. With this, your skin will stay moist and have healthy glow! You can also incorporate natural foods to receive the proper nutrients it needs for energy throughout your day.
- Reconnect old friends:
Old or new, friendship connections have been proven to greatly impact your health. Confiding in a friend for a problem, to vent, or just to talk is great for your mental wellbeing. Social support is one of the biggest mood boosters for your health! Those who have close friendships cope better with stress and have a greater quality of life than those who don’t. Knowing someone is there for you when life gets tough helps you become more emotionally stable. To help better yourself, a friend’s advice can help guide, motivate, and encourage you in whatever it is you want to pursue.
- Join A Cycling Club:
If you’re coming out of a miserable situation, start looking for sources of endorphins to bring you back up. Don’t turn to alcohol or fatty foods. Instead, join a cycling club. Cycling, and other forms of high-intensity interval training like sprinting or rowing spikes endorphin levels and promotes heart health.
- Dine on Mussels:
Seafood fans should indulge in some of their favorite dishes when they need to take their mind off a bad break up. Mussels contain trace nutrients that are important to balancing your mood, including zinc, iodine, and selenium, vital to keeping your thyroid, your body’s master mood regulator, on track. Mussels and Omega 3-rich foods like salmon help to regulate your mood and energize your mind, which means fewer oscillations between manic highs and depressive lows. Not only will eating seafood improve your mental state, but it will also nourish your body. Read this list for more mood-boosting foods.
- Set long-term fitness goals:
The best way to get over something destructive is to build something productive. So go ahead and get to work! Make a long term goal like running a half marathon or doing your first pull-up, then work on incremental progress to make it happen. Forget instant gratification. Push yourself to accomplish a little more each time. Focus on it. Track your progress and plan how to overcome any setbacks you have. Then, when it finally happens after weeks and months of training, you will feel such a sense of self-accomplishment to make it all worth it.
- Join a rec sports league:
Cut toxic people out of your life and replace them with new ones. Rec sports leagues are the perfect way to make new connections, while working toward your fitness goals. Join alone or with your best friend, and become the star of the kickball court or indoor soccer field. It will give you something to do with your time and a way to get in shape. Plus, you never know who you might meet!
- Discover new music:
Prepare to deal with high levels of cortisol after you leave a stressful situation. You will find yourself anxious and feel like a completely different person. Managing stress isn’t easy, but is necessary to overcome anxiety and jeopardizing your health. Stress can actually kill you, so do everything to reduce your cortisol levels. One great way is to listen to relax by listening to music. Music has a calming level that can cut cortisol levels by 66%. Plus, it’s fun to discover new artists so you have more material for the gym.
