If you’re not happy, life can seem a bit bleak. It’s harder to appreciate the small things in life, like birds chirping outside the window or the sun rising in the morning. Heck, it can even be hard to get the motivation to get up and go to school or work.
Being unhappy is a fairly common problem, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. There are a lot of things that you can do if you’re unhappy that can help bring you back to baseline – and that’s what we’re going to discuss in this article.
Bringing Back Your Happiness
These are some of the best lifestyle techniques, tips, and tricks that you can implement to help:
- Talking to your friends or family. One of the most difficult things about being unhappy is feeling that you don’t have any support, or feeling isolated. It can be hard to remember at times, but everyone’s been unhappy, and everyone knows what it’s like. This is why it’s so important to talk to your friends and family about your unhappiness. It’s a hard thing to do, as seen by many commenters here. However, chances are they will have some tips and tricks to help you. Even if they don’t, perhaps they’ll be able to offer support or simply share their time with you. All of these things contribute to you feeling accepted and loved, which can help bring you back into happiness.
- Figure out why you’re unhappy. Are you not doing the things that you love? Do you not know what you love? Are you bored? Are you surrounded by miserable people? These are all some very common factors that lead people to being unhappy, but they’re so used to them that they consider them normal. Take time to find things that you love doing – regardless of what other people think – and do them!
- Eat a healthy diet. People often underestimate the power that their diet can have over their mental well-being. If you’re eating a diet high in trans-fats, refined carbs, and low in vitamins, then you’re going to feel like garbage – physically and mentally.
If this is the diet you’ve eaten your whole life, don’t let that fool you – just because you’re accustomed to feeling like garbage doesn’t mean that it’s the way to be. Eat a ton of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and your mental health and happiness will improve. - Get your exercise. Exercise helps the body release neurotransmitters and hormones that produce feelings of happiness and fight off depression. A simple half hour walk can help, but it’s generally believed that strenuous exercise, like weight lifting or jogging, is better for bringing back happiness. This kind of data is backed by scientific proof.
- Spend time in nature. So many of us live in densely populated concrete cities filled with exhaust that we forget to ever spend time in nature. Being in a forest or by the beach reminds us of the natural rhythms and mechanics that operate in all of us. Spending time acknowledging these rhythms and reintegrating with them can be a great source of happiness and inspiration.
In Conclusion
If you are having difficulty being happy, then there are a lot of things that you can do. From spending more time in nature to opening up to your friends, all manner of opportunities can be beneficial for helping return you to happiness.
It’s important to remember that if you have serious depression, or if you’ve tried all of the above tactics and are still unhappy, you should immediately give therapy a serious consideration. Counselors and therapists have practiced for years to help people learn how to overcome unhappiness and depression, and help pinpoint your source of depression. So if this is the case, don’t hesitate to speak with them. Even if you’re not clinically diagnosed with depression yet, general unhappiness can lead to depression. This is a long and dark road you should, and could, avoid…at all costs.
And no, there’s no excuse for sidestepping this route either. It’s oftentimes stated that people ‘don’t have time’ for therapy. Either make time or look for different methods of counseling support that alleviate your (fabricated) time constraints. Just keep in mind that you, and only you, have the power to change your level of happiness, and even your level of depression if that’s the case.
