“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”—Harriet Tubman

Beautiful words, right? It’s our dreams and the hope of fulfilling them that can make life joyful. Yet, it’s these very dreams, the road bumps we encounter as we chase them and those odd curve balls that life keeps throwing our way that gradually start choking the dreamer in all of us.

While some of us maybe better equipped to handle failures thanks to our conditioning and personality, there are many among us who feel cowed down. The one thing that we need to remember in such situations is that nothing is the end of the road till we make it so. We can continue your journey- joyfully and passionately, and cross over the speed bumps.

Here’s how to ‘live on a fully charged battery’:

Be Positive!

You must have heard how positive thinking helps in getting what you want. Many people may still shun this away as pointless. But, now even an entire branch of science called ‘Noetic Science’ has scientifically proven this concept.

What positive thinking does is that it makes you believe in yourself. This gives you more confidence to approach situations and to bring out the best in you.

For instance, if a fresher is highly confident that he is fit for a job, he will perform better at an interview than a fresher who doubts his own capabilities. How can you expect somebody to trust you when you don’t trust yourself, eh?

Create what you want

Using visualizations can further help you overcoming roadblocks. For example, if you’re going through a rough phase at work, visualize that you have you cracked a big project and your boss is praising you. Add odour, touch and audio to your visuals. Try to experience and feel the emotions you would feel then.

Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher at the University of North Carolina did a study, which showed that when one experiences positive emotions like love, joy; they tend to see more possibilities in their life. It’s never the end for them.

Bid farewell to the butt

Addiction of any kind is hazardous to the dreamer’s health! How will you dream, stay positive and optimistic, if you are constantly weighed down by your dependency on a substance?

Once you get addicted to smoking, not having access to a cigarette for long can make you jittery. At such moments, you may find yourself distracted, till you can take that desired puff. Not just that smoking can also play havoc with your sleeping patterns, making you count sheep at night and wish through your bleary eyed working days that the sheep had the power of granting you some shut eye.

In fact a study from Gallup found that 18{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of American workers who smoked were actively disengaged from work in comparison to 15{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of workers who were not engaged in work. Why let a mere substance wrapped in paper interfere with your capabilities?

In fact, not just that, several studies have linked smoking to depression, as it makes the brain dependent on the trigger it creates for producing dopamine. To put it in laymen terms, dopamine is a chemical that stimulates positive feelings. Regular smoking encourages the brain to stop producing dopamine on it’s own, thus making the smoker dependent on these cancer sticks to feel good.

Though it has not been clearly established the smoking leads to depression, but there appears to be a complex relationship between the two.

Let’s manage stress

Is stress stuck in your life like an uninvited guest? Here are a few tips to help you kick it out:

Time management. Plan your day one night before. Finishing your tasks well in advance will leave you with enough time to follow you dreams, analyze your progress, and enjoy the milestones that you have achieved.

Use your energy for constructive tasks. Most drain it on unproductively (for example, gossiping) and end up getting stressed when it is time to carry out productivity (for example, a conference).

Sleep well. Eat well. Lack of either can make you susceptible to stress, says Richard Blonna, Ed.D, coach, counsellor and author.

Don’t overthink! If you have to give your clothes to the laundry, you can do it over the weekend. You need not stress about it the entire week.

Last but not the least, several minor stressors can add up to affect you negatively. So even if it is feeding your pet or going for a meeting, do it joyfully rather than stressing about carrying out these tasks.

‘Me’ time

Do you get so involved in the mundane tasks of life that you start ignoring your own well-being? Or you may perceive that you have ‘too many’ things to do and hence have no time for yourself. Such a hush-hush attitude is going to drain you sooner than imagined.

Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker and coach says that if you take on a project and try to do the whole thing at once, it sure it going to be overwhelming. Break down your projects into bits and make some room for breaks between these ‘bits’.

Give time to yourself- and only yourself in few of these breaks. ‘So, what do I do in ‘me’ time?’ Here’s what:

Pursue your hobby, be it reading, writing or cooking. Hobbies help you rejuvenate and bounce back.

Take up any fitness activity, which interests you. Gyming, cycling or swimming or dancing.

Meditate – be it for only 15 minutes to feel peaceful.

Engage in self-talk. You are your best supporter and critic. You need to talk to yourself to decide between dilemmas and conflicts.

You should know that life is beautiful. If things aren’t right today, they will turn right sooner than later. It’s about keeping the bud of belief blooming within you. Take obstacles as challenges. Persevere and you shall reach untouched heights (and then you could give us an autograph) Smile, please!

Image source: Microsoft Clipart