If you are struggling with mental illness, or are just going through a rough patch in your life, following healthy routines might not be easy. You come back from work, and all that you dream about is to lay down on your couch and watch Netflix until you feel slightly better. It rarely works, but anything even just a little bit harder than that seems to be out of reach.
At the same time, you know that you are wasting your life, but everything, including doing laundry or washing the dishes, seems like a huge challenge.
It wasn’t always like this. Although sometimes you might feel that you are falling down the endless staircase, there are ways to make yourself feel slightly better. They won’t solve your problems, but hopefully, they will make you feel that if you walk long enough, you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.
How to Deal With Chemical Imbalance
No matter your body shape, you should always remember to love yourself unconditionally. You might be tired of your friends advising you to start exercising, but you should remember that they really want the best for you.
And the truth is, physical activity can make you feel better. That’s because while you exercise, your body releases endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. All of those 3 hormones affect your mood, but dopamine is also responsible for your motivation. Your body releases it when it expects to receive a reward. It happens when you exercise, finish doing your chores, look at your partner’s naked body, or at premium sex dolls, if you want to try something new.
When you drink coffee, it elevates your energy levels, but tackling more difficult tasks is also easier. That’s because caffeine affects dopamine levels as well. However, some people, especially during stressful times, discover that apart from caffeine’s usual effects, there is also another one – anxiety.
That’s because drinking a lot of coffee causes your body to go into overdrive. During this process, your body releases yet another hormone – cortisol. Unfortunately, if you are stressed, your cortisol levels are already elevated.
As an effect, consumption of caffeine can make you feel anxious and cause you to feel even worse. Physical activity can make you more energized as well, but you won’t have to suffer from any side effects.
It doesn’t have to be anything particularly intense – you could go for a walk with your headphones on or dance in your room to your favorite music. Making the first step is always the hardest, but once you start exercising, you will find out that it’s not that terrifying. If you discover that you don’t find it enjoyable, that’s also okay – you’ll just have to try another method.
Meeting Your Friends
When you feel miserable, meeting other people might seem like the last thing that you’d like to do. It is much easier to hide in your room under a warm blanket when no one can see you or judge you. We’ve all been there.
Although the vision of a meeting with your friends might seem intimidating, even a short conversation can really impact your humour in a great way. However, when you are in a bad mood, it often seems that everyone around you is angry at you. No, it’s not your paranoia; it’s your brain.
The studies show that the brains of lonely individuals overinterpret social cues. As a result, the neutral behavior of a stranger is more likely to be interpreted as hostile. It is done subconsciously, so you cannot really prevent that while it’s happening.
Still, once you know the science behind this process, you should try to take more risks. Going to a party with your friends might seem like too much, but what about a small gathering in a park?
If you stay in your home for a long time, you’ll have a harder time convincing yourself to go out anywhere since you’ll feel even more detached from society. It might be difficult, but remember that there are people who accept you unconditionally.
The worst thing that you could do is to keep all your problems bottled up inside. If you are really stressed even before a simple interaction with your friends, you can just talk to them about your worries.
They won’t think of you as weak or overly dramatic – although it might seem otherwise, we all have our ups and downs. The one that you are currently going through might seem like nothing that you’ve ever faced before, but letting others know how you feel can make you feel less alone in this world.
Summary
We know that sometimes it seems like there is no hope. Waking up, you hope for the day to end as soon as possible so that you could go to your bed once again. Or, perhaps, even leaving your bed is just too challenging.
However, no matter how miserable you feel, all things eventually pass. You might think that your despair will last forever, but there is one thing constant in life – change. We hope that after reading this article, you are a little bit closer to getting there. Just hang on a little bit more, and eventually, your ordeals will pass. I promise.
