Bounce Off - Bounce Back - Bounce

Getting up in the morning to a grumpy partner, children begging for your attention, the boss calling way too early, the sweetest dog waiting to be walked and so much more picking at your serenity can be stressful and start the day off with discontentment. Why can't life easier we ponder. Life can be easier when we become content with the chaos we chose and created yet, taking simple steps to change what causes us so much daily strife and discontentment.

We cannot have an easier life immediately, but we can make life more content by making one conscious decision at a time to change what is stressing us out. Addressing the list in the paragraph above, we can smile at our partner hoping to share something happy, we can make sure our children have their needs met (plan ahead/night before), we can take the bosses call with a smile in our voice, (have no choice) and we can get up a smidge earlier to take the dog for an extra-long walk. (Make it your exercise time too.) Everyday life can be difficult just by normal responsibilities and stress will be compounded when we take on more than we want or can handle or when we forget to manage our life and then...surprisingly, life will manage us. Discontentment in our life will grow from our inability to balance demands and from very high expectations of ourselves and others. A few tips that have helped me and many of my clients to get a hold of their life and find more contentment each and every day.

1. Stop now beating yourself up for all the things you won't accomplish by end of day. Not planning out your day will leave you beating yourself up for all the items you didn't accomplish. And well, no surprise because, you didn't plan to accomplish it. You didn't have it on your list as a priority. Only be let down if you missed a high priority item that was written in ink. The rest of the items you've missed, let it bounce off. Furthermore, put that task on your high priority list for the next day if it really bothers you that much.
2. Slowly eliminate things YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO. It is said that half the things we do in a day are from procrastination, unplanned, based on what someone else wants us to do or we live in the past worrying about things we really don't want to do today. Cleaning out your winter clothes box isn't a priority and keeps haunting you.
3. Stop spending all your time in what I call unhealthy activities. Drowned in social media quicksand only to emerge 3 hours later with nothing accomplished. Maybe you spend hours on the phone decoding your friend's drama. You might binge watch series in order to take time for yourself. Many times, activities like the mentioned above just waste precious time. We start the circle all over again beating ourselves up and feeling guilty about all the time lost. Let that behavior go and bounce back to reality and get busy doing healthy activities based on your needs and priorities.
4. Be happy with what you have and try not to seek for more, different, better, or change. Unless of course 'change' will bring you more peace and contentment. Then I say go for it! Be in the life you've created and are living, all the while eliminating waste, try and move out what doesn't belong and take on the things that serve you and bring you to a place of peace and contentment. Life can be so much fun... find you and bounce back to the 'you' you know you are!

The goal of this article is to remind you that you can bounce back after days, weeks and months of letting everything around you steel precious time and energy by knowing yourself, what it is you desire our of your life and letting nothing stand in your way of finding balance, peace, contentment and personal joy. At some point, we all had it, now it is time to find it, claim it and keep it.

Anne Spieker is a four-time Certified Life Coach helping individuals just like you navigate the demands of life and the circumstances of our choices. You can have a better life and sometimes it means starting all over again. Love and peace to you always. You can reach Anne through her website www.acutecoahing.com.