Friday 29 November 2013

Treat Tips

Suggested treats:
  • Enjoy a glass/mug of … [insert favourite beverage that you don’t have every day. Mine include whiskey, wine, store brought coffee]
  • Enjoy a festive glass/mug of …. [insert favourite FESTIVE beverage – it is the season. Mine include mulled beverages and eggnog ]
  • Eat … [insert favourite food that you don’t have every day. You’re treat food. Mine include cake, steak, bacon sandwich, cheeseboard]
  • Eat a festive … [insert favourite FESTIVE food – it’s still the season]
  • Be active…. [insert enjoyable exercise/active session. Remember it’s different to your everyday life, so make it an extra long/tough/fun session. Or if you exercise every single day – then your treat could be a day off]
  • Hug at least 3 people today [my favourite one. If you work or live alone it will give you the excuse to connect with friends or family that day. Or make new friends]
  • Make contact with someone you haven’t spoken to for a while. [text/call/email/ facebook someone that you don’t speak to regularly. Get that friendship going again]
  • Enjoy a really long catch up with a friend [find the time to meet up with a friend]
  • Give someone an unexpected bunch of flowers [another favourite. Think of someone in your life, office, house that goes unappreciated]
  • Make a Christmas Card for someone [if you’re not a fan of the glitterpen, you could print a photo or image and make that into a card quite simply]
  • Watch an episode of [insert favourite TV programme]
  • Listen to … [insert favourite album and find the time to play from start to end]
  • Find out about something new [read an interesting article, watch a documentary, go to a lecture or watch online]
  • Look through a memory box/photo album [I know that not everyone hoards everything in old shoe boxes like me. But you could look through some old Facebook albums or Flickr accounts.]
  • Read for an hour [If reading is a pleasure of yours take the time to really enjoy it. Not just the scraps of time you get on your commute or before bed]
  • Visit a Landmark [if you’re in London or a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure there is a church or a monument or a great view that you can visit]

How to play:
There are no rules…
The treats can be a surprise. You can think of 25 treats that work on any given day. So it doesn’t matter if you have to go to work, spend the day with your in-laws or it’s still not payday yet. Be creative, ask people for help, adapt your plans and make new discoveries. However, this can be difficult to do with a hectic schedule or a lot of responsibilities. So you can plan your treats. Place certain treats on certain days when you know you’re going to have time to enjoy it. The core idea is to enjoy yourself, so stressing out in order to enjoy a treat, is quite contradictory. Or maybe allow yourself a certain number of swaps. So if that treat is just not possible on that day then swap it for another.  
It also doesn’t have to fit the Christian Christmas Advent Calendar, the idea can be taken and adjusted to work with any religious celebration, or any time of year. Maybe do 31 treats in January when things are always a little dark and gloomy. Or even 365 days of the year. It’s not the packaging that’s important but the taking of little steps to improve well-being. 

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