GEMMA HAS SOME OTHER TIPS, TOO:

Be strategic: ‘Go somewhere where you can be by yourself and think,’ she says. Ask things like: what areas of my life need improvement? What specifically needs improvement in those areas? What are the steps I can take to improve them?

Manage negative thoughts: ‘You can proactively manage how you react to them as they arise,’ says Gemma, who suggests acknowledging them, identifying what the issues are and then reaching for a positive thought. ‘Try to identify those things that make you happy, small and big, and weave one of them into your life once a day.’

Watch your back: Look at the people you surround yourself with. If you’re convinced that you’re one of life’s failures, it may be because the people you associate with either tell you so, or are tainted by gloom themselves. ‘You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with,’ says Gemma, ‘So make sure they are good people. Toxic relationships have a habit of creeping up on us. Analyse your relationships and weed out any bad ones.’

Embrace gratitude: ‘It’s easy to be negative,’ says Gemma, ‘and it’s easy to be sucked down the rabbit hole of negativity. That’s why I’m a big advocate of a gratitude practice. Be it a formal practice at a set time every day or you use it ad-hoc, my advice is to think and feel the gratitude for all the good things in your life.’ She has written a blog post about this very subject on her website, prosperitykitchen.co.uk