5 vows to make to yourself on Promise Day

We’re more than a month past the New Year now. So, if you’ve not been able to keep up with your new year resolutions, the Promise Day of the Valentines’ week is the perfect opportunity to follow up and make yourself these 5 very important promises for a better life, for a better you.

Take a look:

1. You shall start running
Not away from problems, d-uh! We mean, running at the park or basically any place, any time. And why just running? You can opt for skipping, brisk walking, yoga, dance, a combination of all of these—basically, whatever it is that you enjoy doing. The idea is to indulge in physical activity, not just to lose weight or become fitter in life; but also to boost your mental health. 

Because guess what? According to countless studies including the one published in “Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry“, exercising can drastically improve one’s mood and overall mental health—thanks to the secretion of the happy hormones, a.k.a. endorphins in the body as a result of physical activity. 

Also, read: A national-level swimmer who hated running, this is how Milind Soman became the Ultraman we know him to be

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2. You shall be kind to yourself
We all can be quite harsh on ourselves for not being able to achieve the set goal, not looking a certain way, not eating right, not winning at something, loving too much, feeling too much, caring too much…and the list is endless. 

“I’m a loser”, “My thighs look terrible”, “I am a bad mother for choosing work over spending time with my kid that day”, “I am an emotional fool, nothing else”—enough of this negative self-talk and unnecessary guilt, we tell you.

Let Promise Day be the perfect opportunity for you to make yourself the promise of not berating yourself and replacing the self-criticism with positive self-talk. 

“I couldn’t achieve my goals, but I will learn from this failure and work harder to get there/simply set more achievable targets”, “My! I’ve got curves and I’m gonna flaunt ‘em like there’s no tomorrow”, “I might have cared too much, but now, I will start caring about myself first”, “I couldn’t spend time with my kid that day, but I was a thorough professional and my kid will watch and learn to be one too. Plus, I’m proud of myself to manage home and work to the best of my ability”. This is the kind of talk you’ve got to have with yourself, girl. 

3. You shall choose your battles wisely
“Life’s a b***h”, says the person, who ends up draining his/her energy on battles and experiences that really don’t need attention. So, be selective of where you’re going to invest your energy. 

Instead of bothering about “what will they say if I don’t turn up looking good”, think on the lines of “I need this hour to myself to relax and I won’t waste my time worrying about their judgments”. 

Let go of the past, enjoy the present, and do what makes you happy—minus the fear of what people will say.

4. You shall make yourself your first priority: You can’t pour from an empty cup. Similarly, you can’t make someone happy, unless you’re happy yourself. 

Hence, if you’re one of those, who put others’ happiness before their own, know that your efforts are nothing, but a waste of time. Make the same efforts for yourself and you’d find yourself and those around you in a much better, happier place. 

Ditch that party to spend time with yourself if you feel like it, cancel the movie date if you feel like exercising then, put away your phone when you’re enjoying your time with yourself, take time out from familial duties to go out and enjoy yourself without feeling guilty about it. And come back as a happier individual, capable of spreading positivity and happiness.

5. You shall realize how powerful you are
We all blame our consequences/destiny/attitude of other people/God and what not we land in hot soup. 

“I can’t lose weight because I feel too physically weak to exercise”, “I can’t be happy because he cheated on me”, “I’ve become emotionally dead because of people always backstabbing me”.

But, have you ever considered the fact that it we are solely responsible for the way we feel and what we achieve in life? If you can’t lose weight because of weakness, make the conscious effort of starting by eating right and exercising mildly. You don’t have to become an overnight athlete. That guy/ those people that hurt you probably weren’t right for you, so, once you’re done lamenting their loss, stop blaming them and move on by not letting yourself overthink/get stuck in the sadness rut.

The idea here is to make you realise that you are just one firm decision away from changing your life. Replace the excuses with concrete action and you’ll see a major change. And those around us when we’re in an unpleasant situation.