I’m Down, How Do I Deal With It?

We all feel bad from time to time. There are hours, days, weeks or even months in which our forces seem to disappear and the illusions are extinguished. Moments in which there is only one phrase in our mind: “I’m down.” It seems as if we have lost our way and a wave of very unpleasant reluctance has caught us.

It is normal to feel bad from time to time. Life is a continuous adventure with its good days but also bad and of course those regular ones. But what can we do to fix it? How to make that feeling disappear? Knowing how to manage moments of sadness will give us that light that we need so much in our cloudy days. Let’s see below what strategies to implement to combat that daily sadness.

I’m down: what are the best strategies?

There are countless books, articles, and magazines that offer the latest and greatest technique to continually feel happy and eradicate bad times forever. However, most of them are unrealistic or tend to work only in the short term.

For this reason, in this article we will talk not so much about techniques but about strategies to manage the discomfort that sometimes invades us. Of course, they are not miracle remedies, it takes effort, patience and emotional awareness to carry them out, but once they are implemented, their benefits will be noticeable, above all, in the long term. They are as follows:

• Accept what is happening to you.
• Protect the body.
• Surround yourself with people you appreciate.
• Work on our goals.

1- Accept what is happening

When the thought “I’m down” comes to us, the first reaction we have is to try to deny it, while we distract ourselves and fight against that unpleasant feeling. After all, no one wants to feel sad, why would they accept that something like this is happening to them?

The problem with this strategy is that in the world of emotions, everything that we resist tends to get stronger. So in general, when we get “angry” at ourselves for feeling bad, all we do is add more weight to our suffering.

The truth is that emotions are trying to send us a message. In reality, they are nothing more than chemical reactions in our brain, which tell us when something is good and when it is not. Due to this, focusing only on the unpleasant emotions resulting from that being down, and not on their cause, will  only cause us greater discomfort in the long term.

Therefore, the best strategy when we feel bad is to  accept what is happening and try to discover why we have these emotions and what they are for. To achieve this, one of the best ways is to practice some relaxation and meditation exercises.

2- Take care of the body

On many occasions, when we feel in a bad mood we look for the cause in external circumstances or in our thoughts. However, sometimes the origin of our “I’m down” has more to do with our body chemistry than with what happens to us.

Therefore, to feel good in the long term it is essential to take care of our diet, exercise and rest. Although it may seem at first glance that these three factors cannot influence us in our “I’m down” moments, the reality is that they do so much more than we think.

3- Surround yourself with people we appreciate

According to a large number of scientific studies,  improving our social relationships has a direct impact on our happiness. It is one of the most important areas of life. From relationships to simple friendships, having other people we trust and who make us feel supported is essential to feel good.

One of the most useful strategies for our sad moments is to go out and socialize with other people. Although it is most likely that in these circumstances we do not feel like anything, as soon as we break that blanket of loneliness that surrounds us and we come into contact with someone we appreciate, our mood will improve considerably.

On the other hand, if we consider ourselves shy, improving our social skills can serve as a catalyst to feel better about ourselves. Thus, once we are confident in our ability to meet and connect with new people, we will experience how our times of downturn are in the past.

4- Work on our goals

The last strategy has to do with focusing on our goals, that is, with not leaving our projects and personal objectives for later. In fact, this discomfort may come from having disconnected from ourselves and we need to strengthen our ties with ourselves.

Let’s not forget that prioritizing ourselves is important to our well-being. If we abandon ourselves and stay in the background everything we want to do, it is normal that one day we wake up with feelings of frustration and failure.

As we can see, it is possible to mitigate that unpleasant feeling that sometimes invades us. We just have to be aware of it and think about what we can do to fix it.