THE uncertainty of 2020 has left many people exhausted, but a life coach has shared his tips on how to hit the reset button and feel refreshed for the year ahead.
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Wagga's personal development coach Steve Barker said a tumultuous year - so full of ups and downs - has come to an end, which left behind an ingrained fear and anxiety of what might lie ahead.
The community was hit with back-to-back crises with the devastating bushfires followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a whole new level of uncertainty for the future, he said.
"We had bushfires, we had the pandemic. People were going into quarantine. The borders closed, opened and closed again and there was the not knowing if you could spend Christmas with your family," he said.
"This uncertainty became a learned behaviour because we experienced it for a long period of time.
"People now start to question what would normally be certainty and bring in the what if's. So, the anxious feeling starts to develop."
When this happens, Mr Barker said people need to consider using the simple S.T.A.R strategy - stop, talk, action and refocus.
He said people need to give themselves the permission to stop their life for some time to think.
"When you are in the whirlwind of the problem, you can't think straight. You need to press the stop button and give yourself the time and space to create perspective and talk out a solution," he said.
"From there develop a new action plan because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
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"When we come up with an action plan, we then need to refocus on the desired outcome."
During this time of year, Mr Barker said many people often overload themselves to the point of becoming overwhelmed with tasks and no clear direction of where to start.
"First of all, make a list of everything you feel you need to achieve and then prioritise that list on what is most to least important. You take the top five of the list and prioritise those again," he said.
"Take action on that number one task and don't stop until you complete it.
"You are subconsciously telling your brain that you are in charge and it starts to calm down and the emotion of overwhelm and overload starts to dissolve as you start ticking things off your list."