Summer Glowup: On Feeling Beautiful
Summer Glowup: How To Start Living A More Productive, Happier, And Healthier Life Today
Note: I'm not a professional. This is me speaking from personal experience and this take isn't intended to replace a professional's advice. If you find yourself experiencing frequent mental ruts, or you cannot get out of one no matter what you try, please speak to a doctor about it.
I talked a bit about demotivation in my first Glowup take, but today I want to talk a bit more about it and also about mental ruts. I personally struggle a lot with these two things specifically. My mental health has been a disaster this year and I found myself in an endless rut due to it. And while I'm still working through it, I like to think I'm slowly getting better in some aspects and I want to write about it today for two reasons: Writing always makes me feel better, and two: Maybe you're feeling the same lately and this can help you get out of it/not feel as alone.
Mental ruts, something we probably all have or will experience at some point. If you find your days are blurring together, you're stuck in an endless loop of negative thoughts, you're not putting any energy towards your goals, and you overall just feel 'blah' for lack of a better term, you might be in a mental rut. The first step to getting out of one is identifying that you're in one.
What's causing it? Maybe it's your job, or you went through a stressful life situation, or you're stuck doing the same uninteresting routine, or a mix of everything. I find the main reason mental ruts are caused is because how you are living right now, isn't how you want to be living. It's not what you imagined you'd be doing at this point in your life, and you haven't stayed true to yourself.
Does any of that sound familiar to you?
It's not easy to get out of a rut. Often, we get stuck into a loop of negative thinking, we get good at only noticing the bad, and we forget/are unable to focus on the positives. That doesn't mean it's hopeless to get out of one though, it just means we have to retrain our brains and make an active effort to break out of the rut. So without further ado, let's get into it.
1: Keep A Positive Journal
For starters, I know journaling isn't for everyone. But if you've never tried it before, I'd urge you to try it once. Why? Well, as I said before, we get stuck in a loop of negativity and can't see the positives at times. By taking 20-30 minutes every night to analyze the day and write down any positives can start the process to retraining the overly-negative thought pattern. And also, the next time you find yourself laying in bed, staring at your ceiling thinking everything in life is negative, you can open that journal and read all the positives of your previous days.
Writing down your negative thoughts can also be a good thing. If your mind is cluttered, it can be hard to focus and to see which thoughts are from your inner critic being too critical, which are things you want to change, etc. By getting your thoughts down on a piece of paper, you can read them back one by one, analyze them, and see if they hold much merit or if it's your inner critic dragging you down.
2: Breaking Out Of A Mundane Routine
Maybe this rut is cause you've been doing the same routine for too long and it doesn't interest you. Maybe you wake up, go to school/work, come home and browse the web before you go to sleep or something along those lines. In that case, breaking out of your regular routine might be the thing you need. What are some things you've been wanting to do for a while? What are some things that make you happy? Maybe you've been wanting to take that cooking class for a while, or you enjoy reading novels. Start incorporating those things into your daily life, something to look forward to and something to break you out of the same old same old routine.
3: Set Attainable Goals
The amount of change you might need to get out of a rut might seem overwhelming, but the changes don't have to be big right away, like you don't have to climb Mt. Everest from the beginning, you can instead start by climbing a few small hills.
Setting small goals that you can achieve on a daily or weekly basis is a good way to begin to get out of a rut.Maybe you've been meaning to clean out your garage or you've been putting off a small assignment, make it a goal to achieve those things. Having small regular wins can give you a boost of positivity and a sense of achievement, and even motivation to keep going and creating bigger goals.
4: Don't Idly Stand By When Negative Thoughts Occur
It's unrealistic to expect life to be 100% positive every second of every day, but while we can't always control the situation we're in, we can control our thoughts and how we react. When you make a mistake, it can be easy to think "I'll never be good enough, I mess everything up." And those are exactly the kinds of thought you shouldn't let idly go through your mind. Take a step back, think if that's rational. I don't have to know you to know that you don't mess everything up, you've certainly had successes in the past, and it's those successes you'll want to think about in order to challenge that particular thought.
5: Determine What It Is You Do Want To Do
What is it that you want? What do you want to make of your life? What are your goals and passions? I know, lots of questions. Take some time to really examine yourself and see what it is you want. Like I said in the beginning, mental ruts can happen because you haven't stayed true to what it is you want. Go outside, sit in a peaceful and quiet spot for a little while and have an honest conversation with yourself and find what it is you truly want, and determine the steps necessary to achieve it within time.
6: When You Lack Motivation
Ah, motivation. Something that isn't easy to get ahold of at times. Yes, setting goals and achieving them and seeing hard work pay off can certainly be a big motivator, but how do you get it in the first place? I've found that sometimes it just doesn't appear. I'm going to use me learning guitar as an example here. In the beginning, I had that motivation to learn cause I set a goal, but as I went on, that motivation slowly decreased because of two reasons: I was expecting too much too soon, and achieving my goal wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be.
I lost motivation for a few days, I didn't feel like playing anymore. Then I thought back to why I started and how excited I was to get into it. I picked my guitar back up and pushed through the frustration and lack of motivation. Within a few weeks, the things I were struggling with became a lot easier. I saw my work paying off regarding my chord changes, and I achieved one of my song goals and currently, I'm very motivated to keep going.
The point is, the thing you want to achieve isn't always going to be a simple road. Sometimes, you're going to have to keep pushing even when it's hard. Not to say you can't take a step back for a little while and reground yourself, but if it's something important to you, then don't wait around too long. See if there's something you could be doing differently, but ultimately, there's frustration along the way and with or without motivation, it might be something you'll just have to push through.
7: Start Your Day Off Right
If you're waking up already stressed about the day that awaits you, you're setting up for a bad day full of negative thinking which will only feed the rut and lack of motivation. Take steps to start it off right. I like to start by immediately doing something I like. This varies from art, to some freewriting, to stretching. Whatever it is that you enjoy, try to incorporate it into your morning routine. Even if it's only for 5-10 minutes, it can be good to take a few moments for yourself.
You could also journal in the morning, like if you tend to wake up stressed, write down what is stressing you out. See if your mind is making it out to be worse than it really is (Not to invalidate you, but I know my mind likes creating mountains out of mole hills.) I'd also recommend 5-10 minutes of mediation if you're not into journaling, or even if you are, practicing proper breathing techniques and letting all your worrisome thoughts flow by is a good destresser.
Also, what you're putting into your body can affect you in many ways. If you're not eating a balanced diet, you'll probably feel drained and tired throughout the day, so do be mindful of what it is you eat regularly.
Be mindful of your sleep routine too. This, I feel hypocritical for writing because my sleep routine is a mess. I'll go a couple of days without sleeping here, then sleep for 2-3 hours a night for a week straight, repeat the cycle, it's just a mess. But sleep has a big effect on how you feel, obvious, I know, but really. If you're getting poor sleep regularly, you're going to really feel it and it can contribute to that drained feeling and make you feel like not doing anything.
Know when it's time to seek help. If you've tried various methods to get out of this rut but they're not doing it, and you feel yourself getting more and more stuck, or even if you just feel right off the bat that it's what you need, then I'd really urge you to see a doctor about it. Perhaps they can offer methods that'll directly help you get out of it.
I think that's majority of what I wanted to say on the topic. Thanks for reading, I hope it helped you, and until the next time I write, take care <3
What Girls & Guys Said
Opinion
1Opinion
Okay. I can say that i'm in such a loop.
But i know how to get out. It's quite simple to me. It's only getting out of the house that's hard to me.
I needed this
I hope things improve for you soon!