The New Year is coming, and everyone is excited to take that flight into 2021, but you can’t fully board until you manage your 2020 baggage. So, let’s prepare ourselves for this highly anticipated flight with looking at what is holding us back. 2020 has definitely been full of disappointment, stress, anger, frustration, and worry for everyone at some point. Sadly, unfortunate tragedy or loss did occur, and we feel like we haven’t fully processed it yet. Though as we are trying to move forward with what has happened, those feeling will keep holding us back and can infect anything new coming in, keeping you stuck in this perpetual state of unhappiness.
According to Beverly D. Flaxington, “One option for going into the new year – or any new day, new week or new month – is to learn how to practice the art of letting go. This might sound contradictory; after all, I just finished saying how tough this last year might have been and what a difficult place you might be in, mentally, emotionally and physically, as you ponder what’s next. The truth is that no matter what our circumstances might be at any point in time, we can practice letting go of hurt, worry, anger and frustration, and allowing ourselves to be more in the natural flow of life. It isn’t easy. It takes practice on a continual basis during the good times so that when the difficult times hit, it is more natural to do.” Click Here to see her keys to learning to get into the natural flow
It is important to start letting go of what may be sabotaging your health and happiness as you go into 2021. Start Reducing Anxiety, Anger, and Depression in your baggage with these helpful tips from Audrey Sherman Ph.D. “I encourage you to do these 5 things in order to take control of the wheel and live a baggage-free life.
Learn what cognitive distortions are and quit using them. They will dictate your thinking and your life by default. They are the number one reason people remain stuck and unhappy. They are typically learned when you are young and can actually be at the root of much anxiety, anger, and depression.
Learn to draw boundaries with others. Boundaries define who you are and how you expect to be treated. Toxic people who will not respect your boundaries drain your life force and should be eliminated from your life if possible.
Learn to chill out. Constant stress takes a toll on your health. Same with chronic anger. It might be time to take a break from the media and your devices and live in the moment with your surroundings and blessings. Learn meditation or biofeedback practices that you can do at home. These teach you to take control of anxiety so that it doesn’t take control of you.
Get organized. This is the best way of gaining control over your environment, your property, your time and your finances. Having complete knowledge of all parts of your life is very peaceful and allows you to take the necessary actions. A chaotic household is a life suck and provokes anxiety and anger. The overwhelm that it causes can actually lead to depression.
Add something to your life that enriches it. This can be a hobby, sport, or intellectual interest of some kind. This will kick up your serotonin for the New Year and get you off to a good start. It renews interest in life in general and can help you meet new friends.
I know these sound very simplistic, but they work. We often want to think things are much more complicated than they are and that is when we look for complicated solutions when the actual ones are right at our fingertips. The more complicated you make something the more stressful it becomes. When you believe your solutions are manageable and under your control, you will gain peace, reduce anxiety and irritability and buffer yourself against depression.”
Sometimes our emotions can seem too much to process and if that is the case for you, please reach out to a licensed professional. If paying for one is a problem, there are hotlines available to you.
Let’s try to be as optimistic as we can be and process our baggage to enjoy a more prosperous flight into 2021!
References
Beverly D. Flaxington
Audrey Sherman Ph.D.
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