Winter is the season of drinking too much red wine in your living room, eating mashed potato and of reflection. However, it is easy to slip into the gloomy habit of doing this too much. By the time spring is here, it’s time for you to get your own groove back. A traditional way to do this is to head off on holiday to the sun, or the slopes, drink a little local speciality, dance a little and have a holiday romance. For the rest of us, sitting in the house, maybe a bit broke, maybe with a family, there is a way through without resorting to extremes.

Step One: Tidy up
I know, how uninspiring, but it works. Just pick one area today: messy sock drawer, bit next to microwave where you stuff the bills, CDs, wherever. The most important thing is you can tackle it because it’s a small contained area, and the boost you get upon completion will enable you to go straight on to Step Two.

Step Two:
Put your records on, go play your favourite song
Find your favourite music, whether this is digging through your CDs, files on your computer or even old records. Find it and play it, on your own, sitting down for fifteen minutes a day, and just listen. You’ll find that whatever your mood before you sit and listen, by the end you’ll be tapping along, singing along, or even crying along if you pick Welsh Male Voice Choirs like me. But far better to feel negative emotion than none.

Step Three: You are what you eat
Eat some decent food. Go shopping, on line or in person and think wholesome: wholegrains, lots of fruit and veg, and protein to go with every meal. Low G.I. cookbooks have lots of inspiration, as do most healthy cookbooks. Check out the shelves in your local library or bookshop for inspiration.

Step Four: You’re worth it!
Take yourself on a date. No, I don’t mean a solo trip to a lovely restaurant. I mean an afternoon out doing something you love, whether it’s a browse around the antique shops, a visit to a craft fair or to a museum. Do it on your own, take your time, and don’t worry if you think about everyday life during your date. The most important thing is you’re doing it.

Step Five: Get outa here
Weekly walks, it’s very important to get out in the fresh air, and the act of walking seems to somehow enable good fresh thinking, as opposed to the normal everyday type about the washing up and the bills. Try different locations for your walks, seafront, countryside, parks, and walks around urban areas.

Step Six: Make something
We are all creative in at least one way. For some of us it’s easy to know how: singing, dancing, making things or art. However for others, like me, these things don’t come naturally. The last time I tried a dancing class it was a special aerobics one for clumsy people who couldn’t keep time, even then I managed to dance myself in to a wall. But the important thing is to have a go at an activity. Try keeping a journal, making a card for a friend, playing the piano or even singing along in church. If something isn’t working for you, change activity, do some gardening, paint your living room or write to your long lost aunt.

Step Seven: Laughter, it’s the best medicine
It’s too easy to look back and not remember the last time you had a good belly laugh, the last time you laughed so hard people looked at you. But laughter is a fantastic healer, and should be part of everyday life. How do you get more of it though? For me, its meeting up with my friends and sharing; ‘Oops I was so silly the other day that I…’ stories, in person or one the phone. It’s about remembering my absolutely funniest laugh out loud favourite sit com; ‘My Family’ or my favourite guilty pleasures book; Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.

In the middle of laughter. take a moment to think about how it feels, and then remember to incorporate your favourite bits from all the steps in to everyday or every-week life. The more you practise all these steps the easier they will become both to complete and to fit in to your busy life.

(Inspiration for some steps taken from Walking in this World by Julia Cameron 2002: Random House).