I’m So Down, What Can I do?
The world we live in is full of adversity and our lives are being affected on a daily basis by crisis, trauma, illness, pandemics and events over which we have very little or no control. It seems I am constantly hearing, “I’m so down, what can I do?
It’s not all doom and gloom and there are ways to lift your mood even when you are unable to stop or change the negative environment around you.
The first way to start lifting your mood is to concentrate on the language you use. Whether it is your-self talk, or what you say to others. I’ll give you an example.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, who hasn’t been feeling so well. She’s not gravely ill but when you feel ill, regardless how serious it is or not, you still feel it. What I noticed more and more was the way she was speaking.
She messages regularly each day telling me how bad she felt, how bad the weather was and it was becoming more apparent that her self talk was dragging her down as much as her illness. If anything, it certainly wasn’t helping in any way.
So, I would suggest to her to rest and focus on the positives. For many of us, we have a lot to be grateful for and in troubling times this is where your focus needs to be. Simple things we take for granted are great to think about when we feel down. Like having a roof over our head, food on our plate, friends to lean on, clothes on our back, if the weather is too hot or too cold, be thankful you have shelter. And the list goes on.
One day I received a message that she was seeing a new doctor and hoped the treatment would work. Hope is a powerful tool and coupled with prayer has seen many people survive adversity.
Sometimes, however, when we use the word hope, we could be doubting ourselves and in this case the doubt was already there before the visit. I suggested she say “I’m seeing a new doctor and I cant wait to see how he can help me!” She agreed and I have noticed that slowly her conversations are changing. Tell yourself something good will happen rather than you hope it will happen.
The other word is “try”. How often you suggest something to people and they respond with “I’ll try.”
When I hear that, I pretty much know that the answer is no.
The hardest part is deciding you want to be happy and not letting anything get in your way. When you choose to be happy and set some happy exercises in place, you just watch how quickly things change.
We all know how powerful our mind can be, and whatever energy we feed it, is what we will receive in the end. It’s very hard to feel bad with a smile on your face.
Even if you’re not feeling the best, a smile will subconsciously give you a lift.
Here’s some simple and great happy exercises to boost your spirit:
- When you wake up, tell yourself it will be a good day
- Surround yourself with positive people and a positive support group
- Practice deep breathing
- Cuddle a pet and if you don’t have one, watch pet videos
- Stick to fresh, healthy foods majority of the time
- Minimise alcohol and sugary drinks (these change your moods)
- If you cant exercise, make sure you get up every hour or so and have a 2-3 minute walk around and/or a stretch
- Find whatever you can to make you laugh. Books, Comedy shows basically anything that makes you laugh and puts a smile on your face.
Over time, you will notice a change and you’ll no longer be saying “I’m so down, what can I do?” because you’ll know what to do. If things are really hard, please seek help.
Reach out to your doctor, and other professionals because there could be serious underlying problems.
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Until next time
Look Feel Live Your Best and Decide Today to Live For Tomorrow
Always Anna
