1.) Take care of your mental, emotional and physical health.

You need to be kind to yourself- to your state of mind. Be kind to your body, be conscientious of building yourself up rather than scrutinizing and tearing yourself down and allow yourself to reflect upon, and understand, your emotions. Exercising may not be your favorite thing, but you must be kind to your body as well. Feed it nutritious food, dress it in a way that makes you feel confident, walk in the sunshine.

2.) Take time to do things you enjoy.

School and jobs and relationships (and life, in general) can become crazy but it’s crucial that you know what pastimes make you happy and that you make time for them. You don’t even have to have someone to do those things with you, you can do them by yourself- it might actually be healthy for you to spend some time alone (regardless of whether you’re introverted or extroverted!)

3.) Set smaller goals to help you achieve your bigger goals.

Nothing feels better than knowing what you want, going after it and reaching it. However big goals become more unreachable if they feel improbable, so you should set little goals to help yourself. If you want to run a 10K in a year- tell yourself that you’re going to be able to run 2 miles in 2 months, 3 miles in 6 months, 5 miles in 8 months and finally 6.3 in a year. Plans like these make big dreams much more workable.

4.) Cut toxic people out of your life.

You are responsible for your own happiness. If someone in your life is draining your energy, exhausting all of your time or simply making you feel as though you are not worthy… then they are not worthy of you. Cut them off and choose your own happiness.

5.) Find something healthy that effectively reduces your stress.

This can be exercising, painting, singing, driving, competing, yoga… it doesn’t matter. Find something healthy. Everyone needs an outlet because life can suck sometimes and it’s important that it’s healthy because, ultimately, unhealthy “stress relief” will only put you in a worse situation.

6.) Deliberately find something good in every day.

“Find something good in every day, even if some days you have to look a little harder.” This will undoubtedly change your perspective on life. It’s all about where you put your focus- focusing on negative things will turn your outlook negative and vice versa.

Be kind to yourself. Take time for yourself. Set goals for yourself. Choose people that encourage you. Find yourself healthy stress relief. See the good.