Get out...

Well, the clocks have gone back; it’s Halloween… safe to say we’re heading towards winter fairly quickly!

I know some people really struggle with the dark and the cold at this time of year.

I like to think my weekly Mental Sunshine ideas provide you with a bank of ideas for ways to lift your mood a little.

This week’s email is one of those ones that feels counterintuitive - because it is!

When we’re feeling rubbish and a bit fed up with the dark winter evenings, we often feel like slumping on the sofa, perhaps eating biscuits (or Halloween sweets), maybe drinking, binge watching Netflix shows until our eyes go square.

Sounds great, right?

Well, no.

That might be the thing we feel like doing - but it’s not the thing that will actually make us feel better.

There’s a perception that if we feel like doing something, it must be the right thing for us to do…

The problem is that human beings evolved to stay safe long enough to procreate… and then… well, nature doesn’t much care what else we get up to.

Nature and evolution do not care at all whether we are happy.

Add to this the fact our modern lives are filled with all sorts of things designed to make us consume more - whether that’s food or content on social media or Netflix…

These things trick us into thinking they’ll make us happy.

But more often than not, what they make us do is more of the same.

Any long time followers of my emails will know that the things that really bring us Mental Sunshine are things like movement, human connection and getting outside.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the odd evening binge watching the latest show on Netflix.

And I’ll never say it’s wrong to eat biscuits!

But when we get stuck in a pattern of doing this most or even every evening - that can lead to problems.

Just because it’s what we feel like doing, doesn’t mean it’s what will be best for us, or make us feel good in the long run.

Sometimes you have to be the grown-up and tell your inner lazy teenager:

Get up. Go for a walk. Call a friend.

Remind yourself there’s a world outside of this living room!

It’s probably not what any of us fancy doing on a cold, dark (probably rainy) day.

But it is what will bring us some mental sunshine!