What to do when you’re feeling rough

I’m an expert at what to do when I’m feeling rough (body wide pain, brain fog, exhausted). But everyone can improve, at least that’s the message of Heidi Grant Halvorson: The Incredible Benefits of a “Get Better” Mindset (video at the end of this post)

I have to agree.  When I’m rough I have to focus on getting better, not feeling sorry for myself, not reading about how my friends have just cycled to work, or walked the ‘coast to coast’.  I need to celebrate the small successes.  I walked to Caffe Nero, I did 6 push-ups (sometimes I can do 50), I did my stretches, I watched some inspiring videos lying on the sofa cuddled up to my cats (well actually Tessa and Anna’s cats, mine is outside hunting for mice).

It’s easy to fall into the trap of the “Be good” mindset, measuring yourself against other people, against your best days.  Seeing yourself as valuable only when you are at your best.

By contract if you have the “Get Better” mindset you compare yourself only to you, if you are having a bad day, try to be better tomorrow.  Strangely I was fine this morning until I set down in the Dentists chair, the stress probably tipped me over some virtual threshold that triggered a rapid decline.  So I’m working on being better tonight so that when my wife and kids get home tonight, I will be ‘better’ and then they will help me be even better, and the sunshine will help.

I like this video more than similar ones from Carol Dweck, who wrote the book Mindset