Do you feel like you’re just constantly going through your days on autopilot? It’s like you wake up, do what needs to be done, sleep, and do it all over again the next day.
This is exactly what I’ve felt for the past year. It feels like life doesn’t just excite me anymore. All the things that I once found interesting just slowly lost all their appeal. The things that used to make me happy and bring me comfort suddenly didn’t feel the same anymore. I was going through my days just surviving and feeling so empty.
My days would easily blur into weeks and before I even knew it, another month had passed. It felt like my life was passing me by. It took some time for me to finally have the courage to admit to myself that I was stuck in the cycle of just existing instead of truly living.
I knew that I was unhappy but I just kept waiting, thinking that maybe one day, I would wake up and just suddenly feel happy and excited about life again. But the hard truth is, nothing will ever change if I don’t do anything to change my situation. I can’t keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a different outcome.
If you’ve been feeling the same way too, if you wake up feeling so disconnected from your life, please know that you don’t have to feel this way forever. There are small steps that we can take every day to change our current situation and find the happiness and spark that we once had.
I know that it can be difficult and overwhelming at first, especially when we are already going through so much and facing a lot of struggles. Making a change so we can feel excited about life again may feel impossible.
I felt this way too but I’ve learned that we don’t have to wait for everything in our lives to fall into place before we allow ourselves the chance to feel happy and excited.
Making room for excitement and happiness in our lives, even when we are going through problems doesn’t mean that we are just pretending that everything is okay and that we are just ignoring our pain, it simply means that even though everything is difficult right now, we can’t let those struggles consume our whole lives.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that struggles and happiness can coexist. Even if things are difficult right now, we still have the power to make small changes that will help us feel excited about our lives again. We still have the power to find the spark that we once had and feel happy.
In this blog post, I will be sharing with you the small changes I’ve made that helped me feel excited about my life again. I hope that some of these steps will resonate with you and help you start enjoying life again.
How To Feel Excited About Life Again
1. Take a break from your usual routine
When we have been stuck in the same routine for years, it’s so easy for our lives to start feeling dull. It’s like we wake up, do the same things, go to the same places, and just follow the same old schedule.
Don’t get me wrong, I also love routines, there’s something about it that makes me feel in control but the problem is, doing the same things and following the same schedule every single day for years, can often make our days feel like we are just not experiencing anything new anymore, like there’s just nothing for us to look forward to.
That’s why the best first step that we need to take if we want to feel excited about life again, is to allow ourselves to take a break from our usual routine. You don’t have to completely change your routine right away.
You don’t have to completely overhaul your life. We can simply start by just changing one single thing. Just choose one thing that you think would be the least overwhelming thing for you to change. It could be waking up an hour early to give yourself some time to breathe and be present.
It could be taking a different route or even scheduling something new. The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to make drastic changes to your routine right away. Just start small and see how it feels.
2. Revisit the things that used to make you happy
When we are going through so much in our lives, it’s easy to lose sight of the things that make us happy. It’s easy to just place those things on hold and simply focus on just surviving through our days.
I know exactly how this feels. This year has been really hard for me. I’m going through so many struggles and I feel so mentally and emotionally exhausted. I thought that the best thing to do was just to buckle up and focus all my attention and effort in finding solutions to my problems and anything beyond that was just a waste of time.
But I was wrong. I’ve learned that just because we are currently going through a difficult time doesn’t mean that we can’t make space for the things that bring us comfort, peace, and even just a little happiness.
Doing those things is not a waste of time. It’s actually important to do those things even in our lowest moments because it’s exactly when we need them the most. By allowing ourselves to connect with the things that bring us joy, we are giving ourselves something to look forward to, something that keeps that spark in us.
So today, try to revisit one of the things that used to bring you comfort and happiness. While you do this please know that you don’t have to force yourself to be happy, if you do something and it doesn’t bring the same sense of happiness and comfort as it used to, that’s perfectly okay.
Allow yourself to explore your other hobbies or interests and keep reminding yourself that what you’re doing is not a task that you just have to finish, the goal here is to just give yourself the chance to find joy in the little things again.
3. Try something new
This goes hand in hand with what I’ve mentioned above. I know that often we believe that just because we enjoyed doing that particular thing before then we should still enjoy it now and if we don’t anymore then it just simply means that there is something broken in us.
I used to think this and if you do too, please know that just because you no longer find comfort and happiness in the things that you used to love doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with you. It simply means that you’ve changed, you’ve grown. We are still evolving and a part of that means the things that we enjoy and value can change too.
If you didn’t find the joy and the spark in revisiting the old things that you used to love, give yourself permission to try something new. Try something that you have never done before. I know that doing that can be overwhelming, so please don’t pressure yourself to do something big.
Just start with something small and simple. Also please don’t feel any pressure to find something that makes you feel excited about life right away. The goal here is not about forcing yourself to enjoy something, it’s about allowing yourself the opportunity to try different experiences and discover what you enjoy now.
Related Posts:
10 Small Things To Do To Find Joy In Life Again
12 Powerful Steps To Take When You Feel Lost In Life
15 Powerful Tips To Start A New Chapter In Life
4. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself
Often, when we are in the season of our lives where we just feel stuck and unhappy, it can be easy for us to start believing that we are failing. We then end up putting so much pressure on ourselves to feel happy and to feel alive again without realizing that by constantly putting that amount of pressure on our shoulders, we are only making ourselves feel worse.
If you are doing this right now, I want you to know that just because you don’t feel excited about life anymore or you feel so lost and stuck doesn’t mean that you are failing. It doesn’t mean that you are broken. What you’re going through is perfectly normal.
I’ve learned that during these moments one of the best things that we can do is to stop pressuring ourselves to feel happy or to be excited about life again. One of my mistakes was making it seem like wanting to be happy and excited about life was a goal that I had to achieve right away.
I pushed myself to make all these big changes thinking that doing these would make me achieve my “goal” right away and when it didn’t, it just made me feel even worse and unhappy.
Feeling excited about our lives is not something that we can just do overnight or even in a week. It’s not about making this one huge change and expecting ourselves to feel differently right away. It’s about making small intentional choices every day and connecting with the person that we are becoming.
It’s time to stop pressuring yourself to feel differently. Allow yourself to feel what you feel now and take one small step forward. Please allow yourself to experience life and discover new things without constantly worrying if you are doing enough to feel better.
5. Make a list of everything that you still want to experience
When we are just going through our days on autopilot, it’s easy to forget that there are still so many things that we want to experience. We often get caught up with our worries and responsibilities that we forget about the things that set our hearts on fire and make us feel so alive.
That’s why this step is so important. Taking some time to write everything that we still want to do acts as a reminder that just because life doesn’t feel exciting right now, doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay this way forever. There are still so many wonderful things that we have yet to experience.
Just write down everything that comes to your mind. It doesn’t have to be life changing, you can write down the smallest things. You don’t have to worry about it not being achievable at the moment. The goal here is not to add more things in your to-do list or pressure you to make these things happen right away.
It’s about giving yourself something to look forward to. If you feel like you can’t think of anything yet, that’s okay. Take your time. Give yourself a moment to reflect on the places that you wanted to visit before, the things that you wanted to try and experience, and the life you want to live someday.
6. Stop comparing
I can’t even begin to tell you the number of times I’ve compared myself with everyone around me, especially the people that I grew up with or went to school with. Every time, I see how motivated, happy, and just how put together they are, I feel like I failed and I get so disappointed with myself.
I kept thinking that maybe there’s something wrong with me because others just seem to have everything figured out while I’m out here still stumbling through life. If you feel this way too, please allow me to tell you that you are not a failure. We all have different timelines and journeys.
Just because you don’t feel excited about your life right now or you don’t feel fulfilled and you are not where you want to be doesn’t mean that you will stay this way forever. I’ve learned that constantly comparing our lives with other people is not only hurting our mental health but it is also keeping us stuck.
The more that we compare, the worse we feel and the worse we feel, the harder it is for us to do something, and the more we stay in the same situation. The best thing that we can do is to stop focusing on other people’s lives and start appreciating the things we have.
Instead of spending so much energy in comparing ourselves to others, let’s use that energy to think of ways we can improve our own lives. Also, we have to remind ourselves that the goal is not to build a life that looks like someone else’s or a life that’s better than someone else’s, it’s about building a life that feels better and happier for you.
7. Just focus on making tomorrow better
I know that every time we try to make a change in our lives, things can easily get too overwhelming for us. Especially when we barely have enough energy to do all our responsibilities and deal with our problems.
I know exactly how that feels. I tried so many times to make a change and improve my life, only to end up feeling so overwhelmed with the steps that I had to take that I ended up not sticking with it.
The thing that really helped me with this was telling myself that I didn’t have to think about making things better for me in the long run. I just have to focus on making my tomorrow better. Just my tomorrow, that’s it.
Doing this made the steps less scary and more manageable. It reminded me that I didn’t have to worry about how long it would take to improve my life and feel excited and joyful again, I just had to ask myself what I can do today to make my tomorrow better.
It could be as simple as making time for myself to read the book I’ve been wanting to read. It could be making a little change in my routine.
I’ve learned that when we are unhappy with our lives, we often think that we have to feel better immediately. So we push ourselves to make all these changes and take all these steps and when we don’t see any changes right away or feel differently, we end up feeling so discouraged that we just end up believing that maybe we don’t have what it takes to turn our lives around.
So please stop putting so much pressure on yourself by trying to figure out everything all at once. You don’t have to find solutions and make drastic changes right away. Stop asking yourself how you’re going to fix your ENTIRE life, just simply start by asking yourself how you can make your tomorrow better.
Final Thoughts
I know how difficult it can be to find the hope that we can still feel better and we can still build that life we want, especially when we have been feeling so unhappy and empty for too long.
Please remember that you are not going to feel this way forever. Stop underestimating yourself. Remind yourself that you have within you this invaluable strength and courage to find your spark again. During this process, please remember to be kind to yourself. Know that finding excitement and joy in our lives is not going to be something that we can achieve right away.
It’s going to take time and along the way, there will be days when we feel like we are not making any progress. That’s why it’s so important to give yourself grace. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling this way, know that what you are going through is completely normal.
Finding joy and excitement is not going to be a straight line. The important thing is you don’t give up hope. You don’t stop believing that it is still possible for you to feel excited to wake up every morning, to feel joy even in tough moments, and to live the life that you have always wanted.
Please always remember that I’m rooting for you!