15 Things To Do When You’re Struggling in Life

We all face struggles in life. Times when everything seems too hard, the light at the end of the tunnel is dim, and continuing forward takes immense effort. I’ve been there many times. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression for years, I know how difficult it can be to summon the energy to help yourself when you are really struggling.

Through trial and error navigating my own mental health challenges, I’ve discovered and implemented strategies and lifestyle habits that truly help. Times that could have utterly overwhelmed me became manageable. When you feel like you are struggling in life, whether due to external circumstances or your own inner battles, there are productive and meaningful things you can do to press forward even when it seems impossible.

1. Talk to Someone You Trust

Letting worries, fears, and emotions fester inside your own head rarely leads anywhere positive when you are struggling. Confiding in a trusted friend, family member or mentor can provide immense relief. Verbalizing feelings and frustrations allow you to vent, while also gaining much needed support and alternate perspectives.

For me, calling my sister or meeting a close friend for coffee when I feel overwhelmed reignites hope and motivation to address what I’m struggling with. I highly recommend identifying 1-2 trusted people you can lean on when times get tough. Sometimes just acknowledging the struggle to others takes weight off your shoulders.

2. Get Moving and Exercise

This may be the last thing you want to do when already exhausted from struggling in life. Yet, science shows that exercise consistently and significantly improves mental health. Physical activity releases endorphins—”feel good” neurotransmitters that energize and uplift mood.

Personally, I’ve found even a 20 minute walk helps clear my head when stressed or overwhelmed. Yoga and strength training also boost my outlook. Find forms of exercise you enjoy and commit to doing something active every day, even when struggling. Start small—going for a walk or doing a few yoga poses—rather than trying an intense workout when already worn down. The mental boost you get from moving your body makes pressing onward with other aspects of life more manageable.

3. List Your Stressors and Break Them Down

Often while struggling, our worries blend together into one giant, ambiguous cloud. Simply making a list of every single thing contributing to feeling overwhelmed helps. Seeing all your stressors identified individually on paper feels less daunting. Choose 3-5 that feel most pressing to tackle first. Break these big problems down into smaller step-by-step issues to solve, one chunk at a time.

For example, if you lost your job, that single stressor likely triggers money worries, loss of routine, feeling insecure about the future, and more. Break this big stressor into smaller pieces: update your resume this week, apply to 5 new jobs by Friday, research career alternatives you could transition to. Achievable progression fuels motivation to keep taking the next small step despite ongoing struggles.

4. Challenge Negative Thought Patterns

Struggling often perpetuates excessive negative self-talk—you feel bad about feeling bad. Intensely questioning your own thoughts is easier said than done. I certainly spent years trapped in endless cycles of corrosive thinking. Yet learning tools to identify distorted thought patterns and consciously reframe my self-talk truly helped lift the emotional weight of struggles.

Techniques like journalling, positive affirmations, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help. When you find yourself thinking “I can’t do this” or “I’m such a failure”, write these thoughts down. Then scrutinize that narrative and challenge its veracity. Perhaps the truthful, more supportive response is “This is difficult, but I can take small steps forward” or “I’m facing a setback, but have overcome obstacles before.” Re-scripting negative self-talk reframes your outlook to be solution-focused rather than wallowing.

5. Set Small, Achievable Goals

When struggling, even minor accomplishments feel monumental. Pursuing massive goals often backfires, reinforcing a sense of failure versus progress. Instead, focus intensely on setting manageable daily and weekly goals to regain momentum. Lists and bullet journals help organize and track bite-sized tasks.

A few realistic examples for a tough week could be:

• Cook 3 healthy meals
• Apply for 1 new job
• Take 20 minute walk every day
• Journal negative thoughts 2x this week

Checkmarks tracking small wins provide tangible confirmation you are capable of progress despite ongoing struggles. Gradually build off these tiny successes without expecting overnight transformation. Celebrate even minor goal achievement.

6. Get Enough Sleep

Easier said than done of course! But poor sleep exacerbates any emotional difficulties or life struggles. Exhaustion destroys motivation, fuels negative thoughts, and saps any scrap of energy you have to help yourself. Make sleep a priority every single day. Maintain consistency waking up/going to bed at the same time, even on weekends. Let go of the idea of being productive late into the night. Regularity is key for quality sleep and mental health.

Personally, sticking firmly to a 10pm to 6am sleep schedule has worked wonders. Tempting as it is to use electronics before bed, I notice better sleep when I avoid screens for 1 hour pre-bedtime. Use this transitional time to journal, stretch, have a cup of calming tea. Invest in blackout curtains if morning light disrupts your sleep. Do whatever it takes to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night during difficult periods.

7. Eat Nutritious, Energy-Boosting Foods

Stress eating copious amounts of sugar and heavily processed snack foods makes me feel worse mentally and physically. Yet when struggling in life, I crave these comfort foods constantly. Consciously choosing to fuel your body with nourishing foods instead provides the mental clarity and energy reserves needed to manage life’s challenges.

Focus on incorporating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans/legumes, nuts/seeds into your diet. The vitamins, minerals and fiber in these foods support your brain functioning optimally to process stressful emotions. Complex carbs boost serotonin, helping calm anxiety. Protein provides sustained energy to avoid crashes from simple carbs. Drink plenty of water too and cut back on caffeine when feeling drained. Taking this mental break to eat a few nutritious mini-meals/snacks throughout the day is worthwhile, despite ongoing struggles.

8. Try Relaxation Techniques

While easier said than done, activating your body’s natural relaxation response helps enormously while struggling. Meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, and visualization prompt positive neurological and biochemical changes to ease emotional overwhelm.

My two personal favorites are:

• 5 Minute Breathing Exercise: Inhale deeply through nose for 5 seconds. Exhale slowly out mouth for 5+ seconds. Repeat continuously for 5 minutes, eyes closed and focused only on breath.
• Visualization: Close eyes and envision detailed scene of somewhere comforting from childhood or your favorite vacation spot. Engage all 5 senses (sights, smells, textures, tastes, sounds). Feel your body relax.

Carve out small pockets of time in your day or pre-bedtime routine for these relaxation techniques. They ease tension in both mind and body exacerbated while struggling.

9. Take Meaningful Time For Yourself

I often entirely neglect basic self-care when life feels overwhelming and difficult. Yet struggles can intensify without outlets providing a mental/emotional break from what you’re facing. Ensure you deliberately set aside time every day or multiple times per week to do something just for you—an activity you find fun, relaxing, energizing or meaningful.

Solo activities I’ve found helpful during tough times include:

• Listening to a favorite podcast or album
• Adult coloring books
• Reading an engrossing novel
• Stretching and foam rolling sore muscles
• Spending time outdoors disconnected from technology

Guard this time for yourself fiercely. While struggles still remain, even brief periods focused inward on your needs provides relief and resilience.

10. Limit Social Media Usage

The perfectly manicured snapshots of acquaintances’ lives on Instagram and Facebook often trigger comparisons or even resentment. Yet remember that everyone intentionally highlights their best moments online. Comparing your daily struggles to these carefully curated feeds reinforces a distorted narrative that you alone face problems.

Limit social media time significantly, or avoid it altogether, when persevering through real challenges. Your attention is better spent on self-care habits that actively reduce struggle-induced stress versus passively scrolling through everyone else’s life highlight reel.

11. Try a New Hobby or Learn a New Skill

Cultivating new passions serves as a positive diversion from circular worrying about your struggles. Simultaneously, mastering novel skills builds confidence in your abilities to handle difficulties life throws your way. Attempting challenging recipes, learning to knit, playing chess, or stargazing appeals differently to everyone based on natural interests and talents.

Choose beginner-friendly options requiring investment of only small amounts of time and money upfront. Initial learning of unfamiliar skills often proves frustrating and difficult in its own right. Yet resist impulse to quit prematurely. Hobbies and passions worth pursuing unfold their rewards slowly over long time horizons. Dip your toes into a few options until finding activities that productively distract your mind from struggles for extended periods. Mastering even seemingly simple new skills bolsters self-assurance to confront bigger life challenges as well.

12. Listen to Uplifting Music and Podcasts

For me, music provides a quick yet powerful mood booster during awful days full of struggling in life. The ‘right’ tracks and podcast episodes evoke intense surges of consolation, inspiration or encouragement precisely when I need them most. Experiment listening to new playlists, genres and podcasts outside your norm until determining which resonate as motivating and uplifting.

When struggling intensely earlier this year after losing my job, I probably listened to the same 3-4 empowering songs hundreds of times. Hearing the specific lyrics and musical accompaniment never failed to lift my spirits, often prompting me to get up and problem-solve the next step forward. Podcasts featuring peers overcoming similar career challenges reminded me I wasn’t alone in my struggles. Music and podcasts brimming with empathy, wisdom and triumph cauterized my floundering self-confidence during an extremely difficult period of loss in my life. They acted as a mental lifeline when I felt like giving up.

13. Watch Comedy

Laughter comprises the cheapest, most readily available medicine—it just requires your willingness to temporarily set aside heaviness from your struggles to get a mental break. When feeling drained, I actually add “watch comedy special” to my calendar as an essential daily task. designated 30-60 minutes soaking up hilarious jokes, goofy movies or silly puppy videos lifts my mood substantially.

My personal approach is watching brief 5-10 minute stand-up comedy clips on YouTube initially. They make me chuckle without requiring extended attention spans when already fatigued by those struggles weighing me down. On better mental health days, I progress to full comedy specials or funny shows on streaming platforms. Remember laughter and playfulness, even in small doses, nourish emotional wellbeing just as food and sleep nourish the body. Joy fuels capacity to productively confront ongoing struggles.

14. Lean On Your Faith or Spiritual Beliefs

For those whose belief systems incorporate tenets around a higher power, meaning/purpose to suffering, or life continuing after death, difficult times often strengthen reliance on these convictions. Faith provides multidimensional support—a framework making struggles feel less random, revelation of meaning and possibilities transcending immediate earthly troubles, a larger hopeful narrative of redemption.

Personally, my Christian faith hugely sustains me through trials and pain by reminding me such torment fails to endure forever. I need not face struggles alone because God walks beside me always. Prayer calms my mind, creating space to process situations more constructively, rather than succumbing to panicked emotional reactions. Scripture passages teach me how other faithful people persevered despite unimaginable struggles across history. None of this quickly or entirely eliminates my problems, of course! But faith provides a sheltering place of spiritual comfort and courage when storms rage.

If you already feel tenuously connected to a religious/spiritual community, reaching out may provide encouragement you didn’t realize was available. If faith practices never held personal appeal, consider speaking with leaders espousing ideologies of hope, inner light that can never be fully extinguished, or growth emerging through hardship. Probe whether their perspective on struggling resonates.

15. Seek Out Professional Help If Needed

Despite concerted efforts to implement other suggestions in this article, some people’s struggles intensify into clinical mental health issues like severe depression, trauma triggers or overwhelming anxiety. There exists zero shame in seeking professional counseling or therapy if you feel utterly thwarted in ability to function and press onward. Everyone needs help sometimes – you don’t have to figure this out alone.

In my early 20s, I experienced months of dangerously low moods and irrational thinking patterns. Despite family/friends’ emotional support, I floundered, including contemplating suicide at points. Finally opening up to a therapist helped me slowly rebuild self-confidence and hope during such a dark life phase. Over time, her teaching various thought restructuring techniques prevented me spiraling so far down again.

Seeking help also presents no commitment to interminable treatment either if that concerns you. Perhaps just a few sessions teaching tangible coping strategies can bolster your self-sufficiency to manage struggles independently moving forward. Just know support exists.

Closing Thoughts

Life presents inevitable ups and downs for us all. Struggling in various aspects is an intrinsic facet of the human condition – not some personal failure or anomaly. If currently battling challenges stretching your endurance and emotional reserves to the breaking point, I hope you implement even a few of the 15 suggestions shared here.

Small steps matter immensely. Prioritize self-care fundamentals like sufficient sleep, nutritious foods and human connections amidst the struggle. Quiet your inner critic through journaling, positive affirmations and questioning distortions. Allow new passions to uplift and inspire you. Embrace laughter and faith where possible. Progress through difficulties may unfold slowly, messily, painfully. Yet bolstering mental resilience and life perspective provides the tools to weather life’s hardest seasons. You’ve made it this far already, after all. Wherever you are – take the next small step forward.

FAQS

What are 5 things I can do when I am struggling?

1. Talk to a trusted friend or family member
2. Get moving with exercise or just a walk
3. Challenge the negative thoughts going through your mind
4. Set small, manageable goals you can accomplish
5. Practice relaxation techniques like deep breathing

Why is it important to ask for help when struggling?

Asking for help when you’re struggling is important because isolating often makes feelings worse. Confiding in others provides relief, new perspectives, and accountability. Friends and family often want to help but don’t know how – reaching out allows them to support you. Don’t assume you can handle everything solo.

What should you not do when you are struggling?

1. Don’t isolate yourself from friends and family
2. Don’t constantly compare yourself and your life to others
3. Don’t quit taking basic care of yourself like eating healthy and sleeping enough
4. Don’t numb feelings with destructive habits like excess drinking
5. Don’t hesitate to ask for professional help if you need it

How can I mentally reframe my struggles?

Reframing involves challenging extreme negative thoughts about your struggles so you interpret situations more accurately and constructively. Ask yourself whether your anxieties and assumptions about problems are completely factual or somewhat distorted. Then consciously rephrase narratives in your mind to be more positive, solution-focused and empowering.

When should I consider therapy for life struggles?

If daily functioning becomes extremely difficult for over 2 weeks – think intense hopelessness, exhaustion, chronic anxiety attacks, missing work often or suicidal thoughts – seek professional support. Many people assume one should handle struggles solo, but therapists provide unbiased guidance tailored to your unique needs. Don’t prolong suffering without exploring readily available help.