How to Feel Good About Yourself: 5 Depression Relievers
If you’re human and you’re reading this, feeling good about yourself is probably a high priority.
Although it may not always be apparent, humans have an innate drive to feel safe, whole, protected, and accepted. For many of us, that’s a lot harder these days because we’re grappling with more than our share of turmoil, crises, and fears about the future. No wonder feeling good about yourself might be tough right now. Not because of anything you did, but because of ongoing chaos and stressors that are wearing you down.
So while it’s certainly not your preferred state, it makes sense if you’re struggling to feel good about yourself right now.
Often, a new year brings with it feelings of a fresh start.
Psychologically, it’s called the “fresh start effect.”
In calmer times, this fresh start metaphor has a kind of chain link reaction on emotions and self-perception. It’s accompanied by a sense of new possibilities and new beginnings, as well as significant mood shifts. But it’s deeper than New Year’s resolutions, leading to meaningful reflections about what matters most going forward.
This sense of possibility and forward movement can translate into increased feelings of optimism, joy, happiness and self-worth. You may even notice a sense of moving away from feeling down and uncertain. In fact, the collective and environmental zeitgeist of a new year/new beginning often enhances “feel good about yourself “energy that helps lift you up.
What happens when this feel good about yourself energy is in short supply when a new year begins?
When collective and traumatic stress affects you (and those around you), you may find yourself shutting down, tuning out, and isolating.
Instead of being engaged with life you might:
- cope by withdrawing from the world
- feel isolated and unable to make sense of what’s going on
- feel hopeless due to the unrelenting bad news
- be more susceptible to situational depression
When much of what we see around us appears dark and devastating, we tend to internalize that darkness.
Of course there is grief there (and many other emotions as well). But sometimes, without even realizing it, your perceived flaws can also take center stage in difficult times.
You feel off, out of sync with yourself. You don’t feel like you, and your own problems may feel magnified. Maybe you even blame yourself for not being able to shake it off and feel better. And when you step back a bit, you might notice that your inner critic is a lot more active than usual.
As a human being, when despair and disillusionment are playing out all around you, it can be hard not to feel that way yourself.
Focusing on the basics and planning ahead may help you reclaim that feel good about yourself energy.
Personally, I’m practicing this myself. For me the basics looks like actually planning, scheduling and making a list of simple, replenishing activities: going outside first thing in the morning, taking a shower, writing in my journal, talking to a friend, taking a walk, resting, making a grilled cheese sandwich, and writing this blog post.
All of these very simple things help lift the dark fog. I imagine you have a list of your own simple things that help you feel good about yourself.
Now more than ever, please write down, plan, and schedule these practices into your day. Don’t just say you’re going to make time for the things that enhance your mood and well-being.
Research supports that planning ahead and scheduling pleasureful, replenishing activities not only increases the likelihood that you will do the thing, but also creates joyful anticipation, which many people are greatly in need of right now.
Whatever you’re experiencing, please know you’re not alone.
I’ve been writing this blog (with you in mind) for quite a few years now. So if you don’t have your own list of things to try, I’ve gathered up five small depression relievers (or mood elevators). They’re pretty easy to do. And you can begin experimenting right now to help you feel good about yourself.
5 small mood elevators to help you feel good about yourself
- Journaling to lift your mood
- Identifying the paradoxes around you
- Rituals for your mental health
- Self-care for life transitions
- A poem: your quiet knowing
____________________
We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.
-Tennessee Williams
Depression is one of the most common reasons women seek counseling and therapy.
I offer women’s depression therapy in Santa Rosa CA and online across California.
