How To Make Yourself Feel Better Any Time

5 Things You Can Do to Get Motivated Again

5 min readFeb 15, 2018

We all go through phases where we don’t feel the best and struggle to get ourselves motivated to do the things we know we should.

As our emotions dictate what we will or will not do, it’s important we have ways to change how we are feeling so that we can get back to doing what’s required of us.

Our emotions are like a rollercoaster — they’re constantly changing and are either going up or down. The better we can manage or control our emotions, the better we will function.

If we’re feeling down, unmotivated or disengaged, and we allow ourselves to stay that way for long periods of time, it can:

Lead to more serious negative emotions such as depression or anxiety.
Cause us to lose our zest for life.
Make us unproductive and inefficient.
Bring about more mental, emotional and physical challenges.
Affect others around us, most likely in a negative way.

Having ways to pick ourselves up when we’re feeling down can prevent us from experiencing more problems later on.

As a coach, one question I ask when interacting with other people is, “What do you do when you’re feeling stressed or not at your best?”

The responses I typically receive include:

I just suck it up and force myself to get through it.
I will try and clear my mind.
I will go for a walk or doing something physical.
I will usually do something to make myself feel good again.
I will ask for help.

The suggestions above are valuable and can certainly make a difference. I’d like to offer more things that can be done so we have a toolkit of things we can fall back on whenever we’re not feeling our best.

5 Things You Can Do to Feel Better Again

Get to the root cause of why you are feeling the way you are. If we don’t look at the actual cause of why we’re feeling the way we are, everything else we do will be a temporary fix, which may be okay in the moment. If we want a longer term solution, then we must get to the cause of our emotions, acknowledge them and be willing to let them go.
Review your list of successes you’ve had in life. The assumption here is we have a list of things we identify as our successes in life. These could be things we’ve accomplished, awards received, or contributions we’ve made. As we read through our successes, we will feel a sense of pride and joy, which will make us feel better.
Give someone a genuine compliment. Oftentimes, when we shift our focus off ourselves and look for good things in other people, we will automatically start feeling better. Giving compliments to others will not only make them feel better, it will also change how we are feeling.
Shift your focus to gratitude and appreciation. No matter what is going on in our lives or what we are feeling, we can always find things to be grateful for. One question we can ask to change how we are feeling is, “Despite how I am feeling right now, what is something good in my life at the moment?”
Speak to someone who will lift you up. As connection to others gives our lives more purpose and meaning, having people we can reach out to whenever we are feeling down to get our mojo back, is extremely valuable. Being able to laugh with others will give us a boost and help change how we are feeling in the moment.

We should not judge or criticise ourselves whenever we’re not at our best or are struggling to do what’s expected of us, because that’s what being human is all about. We go through ups and downs, but how we deal with the times when we are down will determine our life experiences. We can always make ourselves feel better at any time no matter what is going on for us.

Action Step: Create a list of things you can do whenever you feel down. Refer back to that list whenever you’re not at your best so that you can shift your focus and start feeling good again.

Question: What are other things we can do to make ourselves feel better?

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