If you’re one of the 84.9% of adults who have reported feeling anxious as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you clearly aren’t alone. It can be difficult enough managing the typical everyday stresses that comes with balancing work, socialising and life in general, but most of us would agree the pandemic has taken stress and anxiety to a whole new level.
While dealing with the tension and uncertainty of Covid-19, many of our healthy habits and personal ambitions took the back burner, and were replaced with finding ways to deal with social isolation, job insecurity and fears around our health. If you’ve found your mental health and personal wellness have (understandably) fallen to the wayside, now is the perfect time to re-evaluate and recommit to your habits and goals. The thought of jumping back into your pre-pandemic goals and routines can be pretty overwhelming, but adopting structure around makes things more manageable – and visual goal tracking is an excellent way to do this.
What’s the point of visual goal tracking?
Visually tracking your goals provides the much needed structure and accountability needed to support your journey and help you stay focused and on track. It also helps to build momentum along the way—when you have a visual reference of how far you’ve come, you’ll be less tempted to jump ship halfway through. (And who doesn’t find ticking things off and filling things in at least a little satisfying, regardless?)
Rededicating yourself to going after the things that matter most to you doesn’t have to be stressful, and a commitment to making slow, steady progress and simply showing up for yourself each day will carry you far. To help you get started, these printable wellness wheels designed by CreditRepair (shown above) are a perfect way to visually track your goals and start working towards achieving them! (They also have other habit trackers so that you can see what general lifestyle habits are costing you, which are a useful saving resource!)
What kind of habits do people track?
What you choose to track will depend on your own priorities and things that are already working or not working for you, but here are some ideas to get you started:
- Being in bed by a set time (and getting up by a set time!)
- Drinking 2L of water a day
- Exercise (whether it’s gentle yoga, short walks, or something more intensive)
- Managing not to exceed screen time limits
- Leaving the house (I see you, home workers!)
- Speaking to loved ones
Do you use visual habit trackers? Let me know how you get on, and what you find them useful for!