Having a sense of purpose in your life goes a long way to helping you feel confident, secure and happy. A sense of purpose can be brought about by anything in life, it can be related to your career, bringing up a family or doing voluntary work. It is all about fitting in and feeling you are making a difference in life, that you are achieving something and getting somewhere.
If you have a sense of purpose in life you have something to look forward to everyday, a reason for getting up out of bed in the morning with a smile, it makes you feel good on the outside and so good on the inside. It leads to a more confident person who is happy with their position in life.
Younger people very often have no problem developing a purpose in life, they are just starting out and the majority of them have exams to pass, careers to start building, meeting the opposite sex, dating, marrying and eventually starting their own families. The majority of the younger generation has a lot to look forward to and so have a sense of purpose in life.
However the older we get, uncertainty can set in and we can start wondering about our purpose in life. Perhaps the children have grown up and are no longer dependant on you. Relationships break up or we reach retirement age and no longer have our work as a purpose in life.
The older generation then has to develop a new sense of purpose in life, luckily there are many ways you can achieve this, and here are some of the more common ones.
- Take up a new hobby and do something you have always wanted to do but have never had the time before.
- Join a social club, there are many social clubs which let people of the same age group meet on a regular basis and enjoy coffee and chatting. A lot of these groups have activities you can take part in and outings to attend.
- Join an exercise group either locally or at a gym, there are various types of exercise you can take part in without being too strenuous. Swimming meets are a great idea for the older person.
- Take up a sport such a tennis or bowling e.t.c.
- Visit family and friends on a regular basis and have them come over for dinner
- Take up some voluntary work for a few hours every day, it gives you a sense of purpose and gets you out of the house.
- Take a part time job that you can adequately cope with for a few hours per week.
Not letting things get to you and taking life with a grain of salt is the answer to living a happy stress free life; it is when we don’t realize how much stress is building up because of holding things back, worrying about things and harboring grudges that many problems occur in life. 
When things are allowed to build up we get overwhelmed but there are many techniques that we can use to slow down, relax and take life that little bit easier when our feelings threaten to overwhelm us. If we don’t learn to take things with a grain of salt and not worry about every little thing and stress becomes habitual then it can have a severe effect on your health. “Burnout” is the term that is commonly used and you can burnout through problems caused by work, your lifestyle or individual personality characteristics. The symptoms of burnout can be varied but all have an adverse effect on health and happiness over the long term if you don’t change the situation that causes it.
A loss of physical energy
If you are continually faced with stress then it can have a draining effect on your body and mind, this will make you feel as though you have less energy and can make you totally lethargic. You may no longer have the interests you once had or the social life you once did, even the thought of getting out of bed may seem like too much trouble.
Frustration
Stress leads to frustration because you may feel sad for no particular reason, impatient or even ever changing moods, this will eventually lead to you feeling as though you are losing control over your life or that you no longer have the ability to control it.
Problems in relationships
You may find that you are letting relationships slide, this could be because you find yourself losing patience with people around you, you have less interest in things you used to do with others or you feel you cant mix with people you used to like being with.
A pessimistic outlook
When you are feeling burnout it gets increasingly harder to become excited about life and the things you used to do and enjoy, your thoughts turn ever increasingly to negative ones rather than positive and you find it harder to look on the bright side in any situation. It becomes almost impossible to take life with a grain of salt and let even the smallest of things roll off your back and you gradually get deeper into a rut.
Tips to avoid burning out
• Learn a relaxation technique such as meditation
• Get plenty of exercise every week
• Make sure you eat a sensible and healthy diet
• Take time out for yourself everyday
• Learn to shrug your shoulders and cast aside anything that you cannot possible change
• Do something that you enjoy doing everyday
• In a particularly stressful time, relax as best as you can, take slow deep breaths and count to 10
August 2nd, 2010 in
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Taking good care of yourself means eating a healthy diet, getting exercise on a daily basis and learning to relax and take care of your mental health. It is only when our bodies and mind are in union can we feel and be totally healthy and fit, there are many ways that you can ensure you take good care of yourself and which can enable you to live not only a healthier lifestyle, but also a much happier one.
• Learn to let your feelings out, a problem shared is a problem halved, so find someone you can trust and in your times of need lend their shoulder. At the very least get your feelings out by writing them down in a daily journal.
• Never put anyone above yourself, by comparing yourself to others you are frequently putting yourself down and this can lead to low self-esteem or feelings of envy.
• Take time out of your day to just do something which you enjoy doing. By taking a half-hour from the day and just devoting this time entirely to yourself, you are telling yourself that you are worthy.
• When things are getting you down remember to smile, always look for the funny side of any situation no matter how bad it is.
• Use whatever self-help methods work best for you to help you to relax more easily. There are a variety of methods you can use, including audio CDS, books, DVDS, exercise classes, meditation or relaxation exercise
classes. In order to be happy and healthy you have to be able to release stress before it builds up.
• Don’t allow anyone to put you up on a pedestal; this will lead you to believe you have let someone down when things don’t go right.
• If your work is getting you down then ask yourself, are you in the right work? It is also important to remember that there are always some thing’s that every one dislikes about their work. Take the good and bad into account and weigh them up.
• Remember to take short breaks throughout the day, if at work then this could be something as simple as stretching your arms, legs and back by taking a walk to the coffee machine.
• Practices developing a more positive attitude towards everything in your life, if there is something you are not happy about, ask yourself what you need to do to change things.
• Get some form of exercise everyday, exercise helps to ward off diseases, makes us feel better, sleep better and is a great form of stress relief.
• Eat a sensible diet that includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables while cutting down on fatty foods, salt and starch.
• Keep a journal; this can benefit you in many ways by allowing you to get your thoughts and feelings out.
• Make goals that you work towards to achieve what it is you want out of life.