The passion is gone.
I feel like I’m just going through the motions.
I don’t feel like this is making me the best person that I can be.
Do you feel like you’re not in love with your life anymore? (Yup, it also feels like falling out of love with someone.)
Hey, deep breaths. It’s okay. It’s normal…and it happens to all of us. You feel out of sorts, lost, maybe a little bit bored. Maybe you got some bad news in the morning and it just threw off your entire whole day. Or maybe you’re overwhelmed with everything on your to-do list and it just feels never-ending. Maybe you’re just annoyed at how everyone else is a priority except yourself.
Be gentle with yourself. Instead of beating yourself up or making yourself feel worse, try one of my favorite little tricks to fall a little bit back in love with my life again after a bad day (or week or month or heck, even decade):
1.I write down five things I’m grateful for. Even during my worst days, I find something—even if it’s “I’m grateful to have survived this day.” (Alternatively, I also go through old entries in my gratitude journal which always reminds me how there is so much to love in my life.)
2. I ask “What is the present of the present moment?”
3. I step back from my desk and take a break. I chat with my colleagues (when I still had them), play with my daughter or walk in the park.
4. I take deep breaths. I put on my favorite meditation app or look for spa music (yup, that’s a real category) on Spotify and for just five minutes, focus on my breath. Alternatively, I find my “feel good” playlist and blast some tunes, preferably while doing #3.
5. I recite an affirmation. My favorite during tough times: “This too shall pass.”
6. I honor my feelings. I ask the following questions: Why am I feeling this way? What part of my life is contributing to this feeling? Sometimes the best thing I can do is to just acknowledge how I feel. I don’t force myself to find a solution. I sit and allow the feelings to flow through me. Feeling my feelings allows me to honor all the parts of my humanity—not just what’s acceptable or pretty or worthy of likes.
