Connect with the people around you: your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Spend time developing these relationships.Build relationships for wellbeing

Taking time to strengthen and broaden relationships is good for your wellbeing, and good for the wellbeing of the other people involved.

Building relationships for wellbeing means:
There are many ways to build stronger and closer relationships:

• Make time each day to spend with your family.
• Arrange a day out with friends you haven’t seen for a while.
• Switch off the TV tonight and play a game with the children, or just talk.
• Speak to someone new today.
• Have lunch with a colleague.
• Visit a friend or family member who needs support or company.
• Volunteer at a local school, hospital or community group. This is also a “way of time” that is fixed each day, or time that you find around other commitments, giving your time.

You don’t have to go to the gym. Take a walk, go cycling or play a game of football. Find the activity that you enjoy and make it a part of your life.

If you really do not feel energetic start by going to the Exercise section on this website for some very simple ideas to get you started.

Learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement a new confidence. So why not sign up for that cooking course, start learning to play a musical instrument, or figure out how to fix your bike?

Classes and formal courses are great ways to learn new things, but there are lots of other ways too. You might:

• Learn to cook a favourite dish that you’ve never eaten at home.
• Visit a gallery or museum and learn about a person or period in history that interests you.
• Take on a new responsibility at work, such as learning to use an IT system or understanding the monthly reports.
• Fix that broken bike or garden gate. Once you’ve done that, how about setting yourself a bigger DIY project?
• Sign up for a course you’ve been meaning to do at a local night school. You might learn a new language, or try something practical such as plumbing.
• Rediscover an old hobby that challenges you, whether it’s making model aeroplanes, writing stories, sewing or knitting.

Even the smallest act can count, whether it’s a smile, a thank you or a kind word. Larger acts, such as volunteering at your local community centre, can improve your mental wellbeing and help you build new social networks.

Giving can take many forms, from small everyday acts to larger commitments.

Today, you could:

• Say thank you to someone, for something they’ve done for you.
• Phone a relative or friend who needs support or company.
• Ask a colleague how they are and really listen to the answer.
• Offer to lend a hand if you see a stranger struggling with bags or a pushchair.
• This week, you could:
• Arrange a day out for you and a friend or relative.
• Offer to help a relative with DIY or a colleague with a work project.
• Sign up to a mentoring project, in which you give time and support to someone who will benefit from it.
• Volunteer in your local community. That might mean helping out at a local school, hospital or care home.

Be more aware of the present moment, including your feelings and thoughts, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness “mindfulness”, and it can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.

Learn more in the Mindfulness and Meditation section of this website.