What To Do When We Feel Like Everything Is Weighing Us Down

You may work hard to look after your family and keep everything above board, but everybody has those times in life where everything can seem like it is weighing you down. Whether it’s a financial setback or a health challenge, you may not be in control of these things, but you have control over how they make you feel. Let’s show you some ways to help your mindset when everything feels like it is weighing you down. 

Connecting With a Support System

One of the most important things we can do when we’re feeling like it’s all too much is to look at our support system and focus on our relationships. Support systems come in different forms. Sometimes there’s the benefit of professional help. This could mean you being able to get a free legal consultation if you’ve had a major setback like a physical accident, or it could be a mental health helpline, but of course, your relationships with the people you care about can help you to boost your mood and feel connected. One of the most important factors in getting through hard times will be if we feel supported. 

Embrace How You Feel

When things get tough, we shouldn’t ignore our emotions. When life becomes difficult, you need to acknowledge your emotional state. If you hold feelings in, this can make the situation more difficult to cope with. We can feel like we’ve just got to get on with things and not give in to our emotions for fear of them overwhelming us, but allowing ourselves the space to be upset or angry is healthy. If you feel angry, you’ve got to ensure that you have an outlet. Many people who feel like they are just so frustrated with a situation can benefit from aggressive outlets like sports. Physical sports like boxing can do a lot to help people channel their aggression and, of course, it’s great for our health as well. 

Focusing on the Positive

While this glass-half-full mentality is something that we hear about constantly, sometimes it’s just not helpful to hear someone telling us to “keep our chin up” when we’ve been trying so hard to do just that. However, it is beneficial to focus on the potential positive outcomes of any problems we encounter in life. For example, if you are struggling to get a job, you could take solace in the fact that you have an amazing resume or positive feedback on an application can give you that little bit of hope. When you stay focused on these things, it will help you to look at those accomplishments that are contributing to your life. 

Committing to a Healthy Ritual

As humans, we are all dependent on rituals. Structure is something that can stop many people from going off the rails, and healthy rituals can do a lot for you during tough times. When we have things beyond our control what we do have control over is our structure. Healthy rituals can cover almost anything. Here are a few suggestions: 

• Morning workouts. 
• Scheduling quality time with a friend. 
• Getting more sunlight or fresh air every day. 

When we commit to healthy rituals, we are giving ourselves a double whammy of structure and feeling healthier within ourselves. When we find a healthy way for us to let our frustrations out, this is also an effective stress management tool. 

Develop Your Coping Toolbox

Learning to cope with a situation can give us strength and resilience, but we can also look at what we’ve been able to deal with in the past to help us in our current situation. When you know what works for you, you should do that. Learning to cope is something that should be part of our toolbox but we can also gradually expand the toolbox over time. There are many ways to do it: 

• Deep breathing. We have to know that when we feel stressed, we shallow breathe, and doing something like box breathing can make a big difference. 
• Physical activity. Exercise can do a lot for our emotions and release endorphins. 
• Positive self-talk. A practice that may seem silly, but is an incredibly empowering approach once you get your head around it. 

We can all feel like life is getting the better of us sometimes. Whether we are feeling exhausted due to trying to keep everything afloat or we are hitting personal or professional problems, when everything is weighing us down, we’ve got to remember there is so much available to us.