More Active for Life

When people are feeling depressed or anxious, they may be less likely to do the things they enjoy, and therefore, it’s very important to learn how to be more active. Behavioral activation is the best way to do this. The goal of behavioral activation is simple; it helps people get more active in other areas of their life that are pleasurable and also enjoyable. Being more connected and involved with these experiences can certainly improve your mood.

Follow the steps below to identify the goals and activities that you want to accomplish so that you can get started on your new, more active and positive lifestyle as soon as possible and you’ll see just how behavioral activation really is.

Here's How:

• Identify your goals. You need to come up with a list of several short and long-term goals that you would like to accomplish. Then, these goals can have a definite end point i.e. getting a new job, or a goal which may be never-ending i.e. being a more giving person.
• Next, you need to identify smaller activities that you can complete each week that are going to get you closer to the goals that you’ve identified i.e. if you want to be a more giving person, then you might want to choose an activity that involves volunteer work or giving to a charity.
• On a sheet of paper, you need to write down all the activities that you want to complete for the week. You also need to indicate how many times that you want to do the activity and also for how long i.e. someone who writes down  an exercise as an activity should also write down that they want to exercise three times a week for at least half an hour at a time.
• Each day you need to track your progress. When you have completed each goal for that week, you need to place a checkmark next to the activity to indicate its completion.
• If you complete all of your goals for a certain week then reward yourself. Give yourself credit for being more pro-active and getting closer to meeting your life goals.
• Each and every week you should build upon the previous week. Carry activities over from week to week. If there are certain activities that you wish to make into a habit (for example, weekly exercise) then repetition is very important.
• Lastly, enjoy your new, more active and enjoyable lifestyle!

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