Everyone can get into a bad mood sometimes but when it persists, you can start to feel a little depressed. Here’s how to get out of a funk when you’re feeling down.

This pandemic is wearing on me. I also see how it’s wearing on my friends, clients, and most people around me.

Everyone wants it to be over. But it isn’t.

It’s affecting our health, mood, and overall well being.

You might even be getting a little depressed.

That’s why I want to talk today about how to get out of a funk when you’re feeling down.

How to Get Out of a Funk

Everyone feels down sometimes but this feeling might be recurring or lasting longer than usual lately.

Let’s discuss some ways to cope when you’re feeling down for extended periods of time or even for just a day.

Sit With It

Sitting with the discomfort might be the last thing you want to do when you’re in a funk. But one of the best ways to get over something is by going through it, not around it.

Many of us want to turn away in the face of unpleasant feelings. We want to push down, deny, or delete anything that gives us pain. It’s understandable but not always the best way to move on.

What you resist, persists. So sometimes you have to give up the resistance.

Sitting with your feelings and understanding why they’re upsetting you will help you process the root cause and subsequent emotions.

Feeling where the pain lives in your body and breathing into the stuck areas can start to bring a little relief. Physically releasing muscle tension can send a signal to the brain that things are ok and you can relax.

Putting pen to paper and writing about how you’re feeling down can also help you process your emotions. It can help you see new angles, patterns, or ways to cope as well.

It will take time and practice but slowly you might see some relief from your funk when you learn to sit with your emotions and fully experience them.

Change Your Environment

We can sometimes get in a rut with the same negative thoughts playing on a never-ending loop. If you sit down to work, you think, I just can’t be productive in this mood.

Or if you go into your kitchen, you might think, I just can’t get healthy with all this going on.

Certain areas of your house might send certain recurring triggers to your brain, preventing you from thinking more empowering thoughts.

It can be difficult to have a new perspective from an old stuck space. That’s when it can be good to shift your physical environment.

Ever notice how unique and random ideas come to you in the shower? There’s not a lot of pressure in there for productivity so it can free your brain up for different perspectives.

You can also try going out for a walk or taking a drive to put your head in a totally different space. The change in environment could spark new ideas to old problems.

Reach Out

If you’re stuck in a funk and feeling down, reaching out to other people can be very helpful.

Sometimes it’s just talking about your issues that can make you feel better, or hearing someone else’s perspective that can put you in a new mental space.

Also assisting other people with their problems can help you both feel better.

Having a network of supportive friends can lift you up, while giving your unhappy funk proper attention. Discounting your feelings in hopes that they go away, doesn’t usually help the situation.

If you want more in-depth listening and counseling, reach out to a trained professional.

As a Certified Transformational Health Coach and Meditation Teacher, I help people get at the root of their issues so they can have more energy, balance, and happiness. I work with women to put practices in place so they can feel lighter, more in control, and freer. You can learn more about working with me here.

Shift Your Focus

Oftentimes when we’re stuck in a funk and feeling down, we’re stuck in negative thinking. We have those unhelpful loops on autopilot so we can’t think of anything else.

That’s a good time to shift your focus.

Every day is a great day to practice gratitude. You may not want or feel like finding something to be grateful for when you’re feeling down, but that’s exactly the best time to do it.

When you can shift your attention to what’s going well in your life, you can begin to see that there are in fact good things happening. We can easily lose sight of this when we’re stuck on the same negative thoughts.

The more we can look for things to be grateful for, the more we’re able to find. Read more about how and why to start a gratitude practice here.

Go Gently

You might be beating yourself up for not achieving more, being more productive, and producing better results when you’re feeling down, but that can be a double-edged sword.

Forcing yourself to do more when you’re in a funk might cause you to slip further into a negative state. Give yourself some breathing room to be gentle with yourself.

Be sure to break any tasks you have into small enough pieces so it’s manageable from a time and mental space perspective. Crossing things off the to-do list can feel very rewarding, as long as you’re set-up well.

It’s important to have patience as you work to get out of your funk when you’re feeling down.

Sometimes it’s just a signal that it’s time to move at a slower pace or take a break all together.

Taking time off can often be just the reboot you need to reset and get balanced once again.