It’s not a secret that all over the world, there are certain lockdown restrictions to daily life. And while for some people it’s major restrictions, such as not being really allowed to travel, not being allowed to go to the gym or visit friends or family or restaurants for some it’s smaller restrictions, such as not being able to go somewhere without a mask. Whatever applies to you, you have to make an effort in these times to boost your happiness and to maintain your happiness.
It’s too easy to fall into depression
During the lockdown, it is easier to fall into a depression or to feel hopeless and fearful about the future. But this article is going to help you today to find ways to boost your happiness in lockdown and what you can focus on instead of everything that you cannot do.
1. Focus on yourself and find inner peace and clarity.
You see through all of the chaos that is happening, what stays is your internal state, your beliefs, and your attitude. And in these times of chaos, you have to work extra hard to maintain this. And the very best way to do this is through daily meditation.
To boost your happiness with meditation, sit down every day for five to 10 minutes to meditate. If you want more, do 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or whatever suits you and just be in there in the present moment. Relax your body and surrender to what is happening.
With this, you will find mental clarity and peace, and that helps you to be happy and maintain your happiness during the lockdown.
2. Start something new
The next thing you can do is to start something new. Start a hobby, learn a language, do something that you would have never really done If it wasn’t a lockdown. Do something you’re usually too busy for. Now that you have the time at home, there is maybe something nagging in your mind that you always wanted to do in terms of growing yourself, that you have always been putting off.
Make sure to not go towards the easy distraction, such as watching TV, watching series, or just playing games. Instead, find something that gives you a sense of purpose and growth, and also is a certain challenge in your daily life. And especially in these lockdown-times, there are so many opportunities how you can do everything from your own home.
Lockdown Happiness Ideas
- Download a language learning app
- Start a course online
- Buy a book
- Start to bake
- Learn an instrument with an online course.
3. Spend time with family and friends
The third thing to do to boost your happiness in lockdown is to spend as much time with your family and friends and partner as you can. Try to call and meet them as much as you can, and be generous with your attitude.
Share your love generously, and you will openly receive generous love.
I understand that at this point, you can say that the lockdown and this whole situation of being stuck at home are actually putting a lot of pressure on your relationships. And it’s very hard because there are more arguments.
But We are a social species and we are not supposed to be alone all day. We are supposed to be with a tribe. That is why right now we’re actually going back to something that we were supposed to do by finding ways to deal with the close people around us.
You can learn in these times about resolving conflict, about giving openly to people, receiving openly, and taking care of each other. In these times, it really matters that you focus on what is between you and other people… the connection. Even if you just go out to the supermarket, give this cashier smile, you are doing good.
Try to be nice to the person next to you, be generous, and just make sure other people around you are happy because they are also having a tough time.
4. Find a side hustle
A lot of unhappiness is caused currently by the lack of job security and the financial pressure people are struggling with. But you know, in these times of crisis, there’s also an opportunity to see what you are doing that is not exactly your passion in life right now. For this reason, you can try to find a side hustle, build your own business or start anything that gives you another source of income.
Furthermore, think about how can you make your life more purposeful and passionate?
Go online, educate yourself on how to start a small business, find clients, help people do whatever brings you another source of income and a sense of purpose. This then takes away financial pressure. Also, it will help you ultimately to be happy and maintain your happiness because you are not dependent on one job anymore.
5. Practice Acceptance
The very last thing I advise you to do to boost your happiness is to start accepting. So many people are unhappy right now because they are fighting what is and they are not accepting how the situation is. They’re are in resistance to the lockdown and where they are and they’re craving to go back.
But here’s the catch.
There’s a big chance that we will never, ever go back to how things were before. It is very likely that the world would change completely and forever. So the sooner you are able to make peace with it and to start accepting us, the better you are and the better you will be off in the future. So whatever you can do right now to bring acceptance and to accept the situation as it is, will help you.
How to accept
Acceptance can be practiced by answering these questions:
- If this situation will be there forever. And it will never change, how can I be peaceful with it?
- How can I be fine?
- How can I still make myself happy?
- Also, brainstorm action steps you can take to be more accepting and start with them today.
Another thing towards acceptance is to sit with the uncomfortable emotions you have towards certain situations and the lockdown. Take the time to just sit down and face all of these emotions. Don’t push them away. Don’t reject them, instead own them.
If you keep suppressing your emotions and keep rejecting and denying them, the emotions will just continue to work beneath the surface.
These are the ways of how you can find happiness during the lockdown and also maintain it. And these steps will help you no matter the crisis. We can go out of this crisis and then there’s the next crisis five years from now. These steps will help you again because they’re so important for your overall wellbeing.
And also remember that this current time is showing you what you’re not doing and what you maybe should do because in stillness, in a world of no distractions, you have to face yourself and you have to be with yourself and find ways of how you can make yourself happy without all the distractions. And this is exactly the road to go.
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