If you are just having a “bad day” then keep reading but if you cannot go about your daily life without feeling hopeless or constantly unhappy then please seek professional help immediately.
If you’re considering getting help then it’s a sign that you should. Know that you are not alone. Contact the South African Depression and Anxiety Group here for more help.
I haven’t had the best last couple of days so I decided to search “how to feel better?” and found an abundance of helpful tips and advice.
I woke up and started my day with yoga and meditation, ate good meals, even journaled and it 100% helped me. A couple hours later though I felt exactly the same way as I did when I woke up- unhappy.
Now if you’ve experienced the opposite and find that you sulk in negative emotions for too long then check out these self-care ideas/activities. These ideas can help to ease your mind and give you that boost of energy to get you out there again.
Avoid Temporary Fixes
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you that these activities don’t help, of course they do. In fact, on a daily basis I practice a variety of self-care activities that all contribute to my mental health and emotions being in a good state.
The problem lies in the fact that instead of listening to my mind, body and emotions about what I truly needed to feel better, which was to address the larger issue, I decided to try to fix the “feeling”. The feeling is merely a symptom and so it will keep on arising until the root cause is dealt with.
Let it be
Just before I started writing this blog post I had an epiphany that it’s okay to truly let it be sometimes.
Why do we feel the need to try to fix something immediately? What if sometimes all we need is to take a day or two to feel how we feel, while going inward with retrospect instead of looking outward for a quick fix.
Let those negative emotions be present and in due time come to the surface bringing with it the true cause of our pain. Then we can deal with it appropriately and let it “fly away” like white doves in the blue sky.
Listen to your body
So let’s change it up. You wanna eat a tub of ice cream? Go for it and don’t feel guilty because of the “extra carbs”. You just wanna nap it out for a bit? Sure, why not? Or maybe you feel like being alone and crying; that’s all good too.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s okay not to immediately want to jump into “problem-solving mode”. If every time you feel sad or purposeless your response is to try to “do” something to feel better then that could be why you’re constantly feeling burnt out.
We won’t always have control over what’s done to us and what’s done can feel like a horrible injustice. These emotions can’t be fixed with a quick yoga session.
Rather, try to sit with that uneasy feeling with the conscious awareness that you have the ultimate choice as to how much it’s really going to affect you.
This is not a free pass to lay in bed all day, cancel plans or procrastinate work. The whole point of being comfortable with that feeling means we’re able to go about our day as planned while making positive accommodations for the negative emotions.
Find Comfort
Once you’re able to be comfortable with an uncomfortable feeling you’ll find that instead of looking for a quick fix you’ll be keen to solve the root cause. Once that’s solved you can count on having one less bad day!
Personally, I’m super excited to be on this journey of real self-discovery. If you’re keen to learn more about yourself and how to become a better you check out Become Your Own Therapist.
Come join the community and comment below how you tried to feel better by not trying at all! Remember, someone loves you.
XOXO
[…] a low self-esteem. If you’re feeling low at the moment then maybe it’s time to feel better by not trying at all, so give it a click for some […]