How to Get Out of a Mental Slump – Small Steps to Feeling Better

Most of us will have experienced some kind of mental slump at one point in our lives. Sometimes life just overwhelms our capacity to tolerate small setbacks. Maybe work gets a bit too stressful, or that cold lingers a bit too long. Suddenly we just don’t feel like ourselves. What can we do help get back on track?

Stay active. It can be tempting to just curl up under the covers and hide, but there’s good evidence that moving can help improve our mood when we’re down. It doesn’t have to be something super vigorous, a gentle walk round the block or even just doing laps of the kitchen while dinner is cooking can be a good start.

But get the rest you need too. Make sure you get enough downtime. Turn off the computer, put on a familiar movie, make yourself a hot drink. Resist the lure of doomscrolling.

Community. Reach out to friends, family, or community. Again, this can just be something easy; when our energy is low it can be easy to get overwhelmed and end up feeling worse. A simple family dinner or having a friend accompany you on a walk can make a big difference. 

Get it out. Feeling sad, have a good cry. Angry, shout it into a pillow. Our emotions are physical. Finding a way to express them through our bodies can be helpful. Maybe that looks like dancing. Maybe singing along to angry music. Whatever it looks like it’s important that we don’t hurt ourselves or others though.

Make (Bad) Art. This is one of my personal favourites. We get lied to that art has to be good for it to have value, but we can make art just for ourselves. Draw that terrible picture of the person you miss, write the poem, express yourself no matter how much you were told you can’t. 

And last of all, talk to someone. “Hey, I’m struggling at the moment, can we talk?” It doesn’t take much of a conversation to start feeling better, but it can be hard to take the step of reaching out when we know that our friends are dealing with their own situations. 

Some ups and downs are inevitable in life, hopefully these tips will give you something to try the next time you need a hand getting back up.