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As a psychologist/cognitive scientist, I personally advise 1. Exercise 2. Meditation in the morning (it works!) 3. Stay healthy! It affects your mood a lot (

As a psychologist/cognitive scientist, I personally advise 1. Exercise 2. Meditation in the morning (it works!) 3. Stay healthy! It affects your mood a lot (especially having a regular sleep schedule) 4. At least for now, reevaluate your long-term goals and how to achieve them 5. Don't work for such a long time period (especially if its not engaging).

shireboy 10y ago
As someone who shares a similar situation as OP, I know these things will help, but in real life, feel they are a little simplistic. Exercise often gets sidelined because I work late, have some other activity, or am sick. Staying healthy is a great idea too, but I've had colds on and off since November. An infant and two potty training kids mean a regular sleep schedule is difficult. Yes it affects my mood, but unless there's a cure for the common cold or I ignore my kids, I don't see my way around those things. Yet, I also don't like to just make excuses all the time - that just makes me feel worse. So I wind up in a rut where I don't make excuses, but am just resigned to feeling shitty. Maybe "this too shall pass", but I'm open to suggestions as well.
- colorincorrect 10y ago
  Yes. In practice advice from others tends to be hard to follow because there isn't as much motivation compared to you discovering the wisdom to follow by yourself. If you feel this way, then perhaps the follow up question would be: what else were you expecting? After all, its a bit unfathomable to imagine an easy solution for your big problems. Constantly feeling really shitty is usually caused by some kind of negative feedback loop. If you are aware that you are deeply entrenched in a negative cycle, then you have to find some way to break free of it. imho this is why the "this too shall pass" or "take a vacation" approach isn't always good, because typically what will happen is that you will return to the very same environment that induces such a negative cycle. Something that I would used to do is to seize some opportunity to do something different that day and see where it would lead me, even if it seems a bit pointless at first. (but don't do something different for the sake of being different! you gotta "want" to do it!) Most importantly, if you know an approach can make your situation less shitty, than start the change now! You will only feel more shitty if you know you can change it but didn't do so because of lack of motivation. In this sense, the most rational thing you can do now is to implement the change you know will help your situation.
- b_emery 10y ago
  I have a similar situation, and as a consequence, have tried to make sleep my #1 priority. This usually means going to bed earlier and leaving things un-done. So far, I do feel a bit better, even though sleep is often interrupted. My kids have also been sick since Oct and believe it or not I've managed to avoid it so far. While I might be mostly immune (having had these particular bugs in the past), I also credit militant hand washing. My hands are a dried out mess but I think it makes a substantial difference. Anyway, good luck.

shireboy 10y ago

As someone who shares a similar situation as OP, I know these things will help, but in real life, feel they are a little simplistic. Exercise often gets sidelined because I work late, have some other activity, or am sick. Staying healthy is a great idea too, but I've had colds on and off since November. An infant and two potty training kids mean a regular sleep schedule is difficult. Yes it affects my mood, but unless there's a cure for the common cold or I ignore my kids, I don't see my way around those things. Yet, I also don't like to just make excuses all the time - that just makes me feel worse. So I wind up in a rut where I don't make excuses, but am just resigned to feeling shitty. Maybe "this too shall pass", but I'm open to suggestions as well.

colorincorrect 10y ago
Yes. In practice advice from others tends to be hard to follow because there isn't as much motivation compared to you discovering the wisdom to follow by yourself. If you feel this way, then perhaps the follow up question would be: what else were you expecting? After all, its a bit unfathomable to imagine an easy solution for your big problems. Constantly feeling really shitty is usually caused by some kind of negative feedback loop. If you are aware that you are deeply entrenched in a negative cycle, then you have to find some way to break free of it. imho this is why the "this too shall pass" or "take a vacation" approach isn't always good, because typically what will happen is that you will return to the very same environment that induces such a negative cycle. Something that I would used to do is to seize some opportunity to do something different that day and see where it would lead me, even if it seems a bit pointless at first. (but don't do something different for the sake of being different! you gotta "want" to do it!) Most importantly, if you know an approach can make your situation less shitty, than start the change now! You will only feel more shitty if you know you can change it but didn't do so because of lack of motivation. In this sense, the most rational thing you can do now is to implement the change you know will help your situation.
b_emery 10y ago
I have a similar situation, and as a consequence, have tried to make sleep my #1 priority. This usually means going to bed earlier and leaving things un-done. So far, I do feel a bit better, even though sleep is often interrupted. My kids have also been sick since Oct and believe it or not I've managed to avoid it so far. While I might be mostly immune (having had these particular bugs in the past), I also credit militant hand washing. My hands are a dried out mess but I think it makes a substantial difference. Anyway, good luck.