All You Need To Know About How To Be Happy Again.
We all have our blue days when nothing seems right, and we find ourselves going into a vicious cycle of sadness and dismay. But when this feeling becomes persistent and starts affecting our daily life, productivity, and health, there is something wrong. In this case, getting help from a professional is essential. Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions in which an individual undergoes feelings of hopelessness. They also don’t feel like doing anything, and everything feels like a burden. In this article, we’ll focus on how to be happy again and find relief from depression through simple yet effective lifestyle modifications.
Table of Contents
Be Happy Again Tips
If you have dealt with trauma, grief, or long-term stress or anxiety then it may seem like you will never be happy again. However, there are some ways that you can work to lift yourself up so that you are not permanently in distress from those situations. Therapy is always recommended here, this does not supplement therapy, but these are some tips you can utilize on your own to be happy from within.
These tips are helpful for any range of anxiety symptoms or disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and even OCD. A stress disorder is something oftentimes overlooked as being serious. However we have these
Write Down Your Feelings
Every day, you should take some minutes and write in a journal. It could be anything that is going on in your thoughts. It will instill in you a sense of self-awareness, and then you will be able to identify why and how you are feeling the way you think. When done continuously, you will begin to see patterns and replace raw thoughts with wise, rational thoughts.
Ultimately, you will be able to minimize the negative thought processes in your brain, and you will feel much happier than before. When writing, don’t blur or edit any thought; instead, let it flow and understand the rawer you are, the better it would be for you to process and heal. It is another way of hearing out your emotions, and it acts as a catharsis. So, do consider writing down your feelings in a journal or any electronic device you use.
Journaling can be a great way to get all of your thoughts out onto paper and to help you actually see where some of them are coming from. This is a healthy coping mechanism that allows you to process whatever it is that you may be worried about.
- A Day and Night Reflection Journal will help you center your day around positive feelings and gratitude. It’s the perfect place to record and celebrate anything that you are grateful for and to preserve important memories.
- Cultivating gratitude is one of the most potent and important mindfulness exercises, and thankfulness has proven to have a positive effect on a person's mental health and general well-being
Share with A Loved One
One of the ways depression negatively impacts our lives is when we keep our feelings to ourselves and bottle them all up. We may think we are burdening others with our problems and nobody has the time to dwell on and listen to our rants, but this should not be the narrative. Instead, talk about your issues with a rational approach to those who care about you. They would help you analyze why you are going through a negative feeling.
Often, simply sharing your problem mitigates the problem, and you feel much better that way. Naturally, humans are built with the intensive need to share their thoughts and experiences, and when they feel genuinely heard, they begin feeling less lonely and more satisfied. If you want to be happier than you are, consider sharing with a loved one instead of bottling it all up.
Spend Time in Nature
Nature is undoubtedly the best healer. When you take some time out of the day and feel the wind blowing on your hair, see the lovely colors of the flower, and feel the fresh grass on your feet, you tend to feel a lot new and happy. On the other hand, when you spend the whole day locked up inside a room or a building in front of a screen, you will naturally end up sad, tired, and grumpy.
So, take some time out of the day and unwind yourself as you take your senses to a relaxing mode in a garden or simply on a terrace. If nothing is possible, maybe try investing in indoor plants and spend some time near a window where you can get sunlight. To add, spending some time in sunlight is now evident to provide you relief against gloominess and feelings of depression.
You can do this by using grounding techniques and bringing yourself back down to your center.
Relaxation Techniques
These are great to do when you are in a stressful situation and you are having some unhelpful or irrational thoughts that have not been corrected.
Start by sitting in a quiet, comfortable place with some light music if that helps. Close your eyes and take some full, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Do this at least three times and make sure they are very full breaths to where your chest expands fully and you get a nice stretch.
Then start by clenching the muscles in your feet and holding them for 5-10 seconds and then releasing them. Then do this in your calves and then release them, then move to your quads and hamstrings. Do this all the way until you get up to your head and do this with your face muscles.
After you are done notice if you feel any tension in your body, if you do, try to think about releasing that tension. You can add in some yoga or stretching if you are having a hard time releasing that tension.
Take Some Time Off-Screen
Actively observe how much screen time you spend in a day. It might be you are not working in front of a computer all day, but watch how many hours you keep scrolling on social media. Endless scrolling is a harmful habit that affects your physical health and influences your mental health.
In addition, social media interaction aggravates feelings of depression as you are constantly being fed unrealistic things, driving you into capitalism and competition. So, when you have free time, put your phone away and make yourself busy with a calming book or listen to music.
Anything that lifts your mood can help. For example, if you think doing skincare would make you feel happier, take some time to wash your face and apply any product lying on your dressing table for weeks. It will instantly help in boosting your mood.
This is especially important if you struggle with insomnia which can affect your energy, mood and more.
Do Some Physical Activities
It is a fact that a sedentary lifestyle leads to feelings of depression. You will feel different symptoms of depression with more severity, given you are not physically active. For example, stiffness in muscles is a common problem in a sedentary lifestyle. You might feel like not doing anything, but the best way to stop it is to discipline yourself to do physical activity, no matter how ordinary or little it may seem.
So, make sure you do some physical exercises and see an instant boost in your mood. It is typically because more oxygen supply, dopamine release, and minor cortisol hormone release all add up to elevate your mood, kicking the blues away. So, do include something that makes you breathe fast for a while as it would make you happy.
Exercise is shown to work as a natural anti-depressant there is tons of research showing how it is beneficial in increasing your neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters help us to be motivated and satisfied and they are what are targeted in antidepressant medications oftentimes.
Eat Fruits and Vegetables
The depression diet, or the Mediterranean Diet, has been known to have fantastic health benefits for the brain. The diet is rich in antioxidants, which help the mind feel fresh, young, and happy. If you want to get rid of sad feelings, make sure to include lots of fruits and vegetables in your diet, so you begin to feel more energized and ready for the day.
So, do include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet to keep feeling energized and fresh. The fiber in these foods will be fermented in the gut by the microbiota naturally present in it, producing short-chain fatty acids. These short-chain fatty acids will improve your overall health and alleviate depression in your brain.
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Do Some Meditation Daily
One of the ways you can get happy again is to practice mindfulness and do some meditation daily. Not only will it help you relax but also it would help in clearing your mind. You would become more aware of the toxic trail of negative thoughts going in your brain. What’s more important, you try to navigate through the thought process that stops you from feeling your best.
When you practice meditation daily, you get to have a more profound approach toward life in general that would help you stay happy and satisfied. So, try practicing meditation daily to get the best results.
Take deep breaths and focus on where you feel any tension in your body and actively release that tension. If you feel it in your jaw, think about releasing it in your jaw and doing some deep breathing exercises to help calm your heart and make you feel happy and relaxed.
Don’t Take everything too Serious.
One of the simplest yet underrated things to understand is that we don’t have to take everything too seriously in life. We need to acknowledge that many things are going on in our lives that are beyond our control. When we realize that we don’t have control over everything, we take a back seat and tend to enjoy life as it comes.
In that way, we also become aware of how we can focus on the things under our control. The best way to practice it is through the art of changing ourselves and adapting to the environment instead of trying to take everything under our control and expecting everything and everyone around us to change.
Although it may seem challenging to be productive and take breaks and have fun in life. However, when you feel good and you are happier, those tasks may not seem like such a big deal and those chores you once dreaded may not seem as bad. They are just another “problem” that needs your attention but it doesn’t define you and it should not steal your joy.
Seek Psychological Help
If you are not satisfied with your scale of happiness and want your life to get better terms of it, then there is no shame in seeking the help of a psychologist. They are trained professionals who help you navigate, understand, and rectify your thought patterns and behaviors through psychotherapy.
With the use of different techniques, talk sessions, and modules, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, they help you in finding new and better perspectives on life by taking your pre-made mindset about everything that may influence your happiness level—in that manner, seeking help from a professional remains among the best strategies to help you gain more insight into things and be more efficient and satisfied with life in general. So, you don’t have to worry about the items which don’t seem to be under your control.
Positive psychology can help you focus on positive aspects of life such as fulfilling your hierarchy of needs which are all of the categories you require in order to reach self-actualization and satisfaction. If you are lacking in certain areas then you may not feel joy and happiness like you would like to. True happiness comes from within and you can learn to pursue happiness and things that genuinely make you happy.
“Happiness is a choice” is what some psychology theorists will say, just like we choose to depress ourselves. This may sound odd, however, a large portion of what we become anxious about is wishing that our situation was different no matter what the situation is, instead of enjoying what is good in it.
Worries and fears can seem like something that controls us and we don’t know how to get past them. This contributes to feelings of depression and anxiety because you feel out of control and your phobias are limiting your ability to enjoy life.
That’s why talking to a therapist can be helpful to shift your mindset and help you gain back the person who you want to be.
How do I find my joy again?
Joy can come from internal contentment. When you feel accomplished and happy, together you can feel feelings of joy. I like to say that trying to deal with or avoid things that “steal our joy” can be helpful to find the things that do matter most to us and prioritizing them.
Although struggles can be hard, they are the only way we truly grow.
That is how our neurotransmitters serotonin (happiness) and dopamine (motivation) play a role in our satisfaction in life.
Creating an actual written to-do list like in a journal or planner can be very helpful to increase your dopamine and feel satisfaction in accomplishing things. By writing it out and seeing that you checked off so many things, it will help you feel better about your situation.
Positive affirmations are simple sayings that remind your brain of who you are and why you are worthy and deserving of love and appreciation. Positive affirmations can help you replace all of those negative thoughts you have about yourself throughout the day. Such as “why should I even try, I am going to fail anyway”, thoughts like that are very unhelpful and steal our joy.
Homework
To improve your overall life, it takes small efforts to be done repeatedly. So my recommendation is to start with reading what you can and learning about how to be happy and implement small changes.
Start off small and do one or two things until you’ve mastered those then you can move on to the next habit.
Once you have mastered meditation and you are implementing even 10 mins first thing in the morning then move on to the next thing.
Summary
These are some things that need to be kept in mind by someone who is looking to get happy again or knows someone who struggles with mental health problems. The best practice regarding attaining a healthy mind is planning your goals and deciding which areas you need to focus on. Is it your trail of thoughts that are a result of overthinking? Do you have a pre-made mindset about certain things driven by societal implications? Whatever be the case, rest assured that your mind has the ultimate capacity to be reprogrammed, and you can live a healthier and more fulfilled life.
Originally posted 2022-05-02 15:37:21.
Megan Santiago
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