How to Raise Your Vibe (confidence and joy)

We are halfway through 2022, ahhhhhh! At this time, I like to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. To review my goals, make changes, and pat myself on the back when needed.

I wanted a new focus for the second half of the year, especially as I’m really happy with the first half. I feel like I’ve done well and progressed without even really meaning to. I think this is down to one thing: I’ve been happier this year.

When you’re happy (content, joyful, at peace within), you make better decisions. You see more clearly. You take care of yourself and those around you. And so, I want to carry that vibe into the rest of 2022 (and beyond!). I want to raise my vibe and try to keep my confidence in a good place.

Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t always be happy, always feel confident, or always feel at peace. That’s not how human beings work. Life is full of ebbs and flows, ups and downs, yin and yang. But even embracing the balance of these things is a way to protect your vibe. A way to not sink lower than you need to when hit with those lows, right?

Here are some ways that I will try to protect and raise my vibe/energy in 2022…

That good burn

I think confidence and joy and that feeling of being on a good vibration of energy comes from doing things that are active. This doesn’t have to be just exercise. And sadly, exercise has a bit of a bad rep for a lot of us. Instead, it’s just anything active that feels like you’re shedding a shell. You’re shifting internal energy. You’re breaking free from any physical, mental, or emotional weight.

Not everyone believes in or cares about chakras, chi, energy, the spirit, and whatever else but I think I do. I’m undecided! But I do know for sure that when I’m moving my body in a good way, I feel less stressed, tired, weak, or anxious. I feel like I am shifting energies and raising my vibe. Call it endorphins if you like, and maybe it is just this, or a mixture of these things, it doesn’t matter. That’s just semantics.

Instead, it’s about the feeling. I feel good after running, strength-based exercise, combat workouts, yoga, dancing, cleaning the house, or whatever else. Actively doing things, feeling that good burn, gets you to raise above the murkiness you’ve been feeling.

You rise above it all, even if only briefly.

Feel expensive

No, you don’t need to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe (I wish, urgh). All you need to do is wear what you do have that makes you feel good. Play around with the clothes you have to create something that feels new. Don’t save the good outfit for a special ocassion. Being alive is special! Every day can feel special in this small way by simply wearing a good outfit.

It’s also important to connect with and embrace your personal style. Don’t chase trends (it’s toxic, expensive, and bad for the environment, never mind your vibe!). Know who you are, what you look good in, what colours compliment your skin, and what clothes compliment your shape and size. Are you preppy, sporty, chic, bohemian, old-school, artistic, or other? Knowing this helps you buy with intention, and wear things that are a vibe for you personally.

Underwear goes a long way. You might be the only one who sees it, but it’s again about the feeling you get from wearing them. Frumpy underwear that doesn’t fit, doesn’t flatter, and doesn’t match can lower your vibe. You walk differently when your underwear is sexier or cooler or well-fitting to your body type.

The little details of an outfit go a long way. Jewellery, makeup, shoes, accessories, that pin in your hair, a coat of polish on your nails. Attend to the details. A little effort goes a long way to raising your vibe.

Rhythm and movement

I want to start my day dancing. Yes, dancing! A mini motivational morning party session! This raises your vibe. Yeah I’m going to work, and maybe I’m tired or stressed, but I can put on some good music and wriggle my hips and shake my head and boom, a shift in energy. A rise in my vibe. You feel happier, more confident, and carefree. Let the rhythm beat through your body, embrace your soul, and lift you higher.

“Dance to the beat of your own drum,” they say. You can only do this when you A, play your drums, and B, actively listen to them. Find what your groove is. Find what rhythm works for you in all areas of your life and get dancing (literally and figuratively).

Connect deeply

Surface-level living is a surface-level experience. We need depth. I think perhaps our world is begging for it. It doesn’t need to be spirituality. It doesn’t need to be meditation or prayer. But we do need to connect. How?

Disconnect from our phones/media/technology periodically Meet people face-to-faceCultivate an awareness of your body: how is it feeling, what does it need?An appreciation for your physical spaceReflect on your day, week, or month by considering how it felt, what you did, and where you found joyBe grateful for the things that feel high vibe in your lifeExplore ideas, people, places with kind curiosity and openness

Why bother? It improves our mood. It helps guide us into making better decisions. It helps us to be more confident in who we are, what we’re doing, and most importantly, why. Not knowing these things on a deep level can mean you coast through life and your energy/vibe/joy/peace/confidence feels more erratic and uncontrollable.

Nurture the things in your life

These are physical, mental, and emotional things. We need to cultivate compassion for our minds. Treat ourselves like children, who we want to love, care for, and guide, not berate, scold, and punish.

It might sound lame but kindness towards yourself can really help nurture a positive and energy-giving vibe. It’s like the difference between someone holding your hand as they guide you up a mountain to someone lighting a fire behind you to make you run up it. Sure, you might get there faster with the fire option! But are you happy on the way? No. You’re breathless and afraid and panicked. You’re not appreciating the view, resting as needed, and taking time to feel joy in your progress with each step. That’s a higher vibe. That’s a beautiful and more self-assured journey to take.

Focus

And lastly, we need to focus on our own grass in order for it to grow everlasting green. Peering over other people’s fences, comparing, and competing, is not healthy. There’s fun in competition to a degree, of course, but not when it breeds fear, shame, anger, or frustration.

We need to focus on what we want, who we are, what we love, what we want to create, how we want to shape the world, and what’s important to us as individuals.

Focus means you’re more likely to be successful in your endeavours. Instead of straining to hear the rhythm of other people’s music, you need to blast your own and dance to the beat of your own heart.

We are a society of the distracted. The stressed. The confused. The abundant. The overwhelmed. Raising your vibe needs to be an active choice each day, otherwise, you become swept up in the busyness and loudness of things that don’t matter; or other people’s wants and needs instead of your own; or the bleakness of a world in pain.

Don’t isolate yourself. Don’t hide from the reality of the world and other people’s suffering. Instead, protect your vibe actively by nurturing it and focusing. Then be the meerkat who pops his head out of the sand, looks around, and lends a helping hand from a good place all because you have that strength and good energy within to share.

Sincerely,

S. xx