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Feeling Stuck
Sometimes the day feels just too hard to face. You cope by staying in bed, maybe scrolling through social media or scanning the news. The problem is, you may feel even more like staying in bed after this type of coping. How do you break free from this cycle?
The Connection Between Feeling and Doing
When you feel good, you are more likely to engage socially, spend time on your interests, and challenge yourself with new experiences. When your mood is low, you’re less likely to participate in these behaviors, and that decreases connection to others, pleasure, and a sense of mastery.
Waiting to Feel Like It
Sometimes you know choosing an activity will help your mood, but you tell yourself I’ll do it when I feel like it. Waiting for external events to improve your mood increases hopelessness and leaves you at the mercy of chance. More often than not, inactivity leads to a lower mood, and feeling low feeds into even more inactivity. It’s a downward spiral.
Tips to Take Action
- Reflect on daily activities – what activities boost or lower your mood most?
- Reconnect to your goals – what things matter most to you?
- Set reasonable expectations for action. Repeated failures are discouraging.
- Identify barriers to your desired action. What tends to get in the way?
- Schedule meaningful activities.
- Break actions up into smaller chunks for a higher rate of success.
Remember, pay attention to how your overall activity level affects your mood.
The stronger the awareness you have of this relationship, the more resilient you are to getting stuck in a downward spiral.
Lastly, always celebrate your wins!
You’re worth it!
