A while ago I said I would write a post telling you how to drag yourself out of a mental rut and I am big on keeping my promises so here we go, squad. 

Full disclosure I did write this list whilst actually yanking myself back into existence so it may not be the most coherent guide of all time but we'll live.

Express Your Feelings

Get them out. You can't get over something you don't understand, and a lot of the time half of what's blocking you from moving forward is the fact that you haven't really got whatever's bothering you out of your system. This can mean venting to a friend, writing a blog post (do remember these things are public tho) or just sitting down and letting your stream of consciousness out in a diary. Just get them out so you can move past them. Also a lot of the time forcing yourself to verbalise how you're feeling can help you see things from a new perspective and organise your thoughts more effectively.

Uplifting Soundtrack

We've been through this before, I'm very heavily influenced by music so this is always going to be a step I advocate. Blast yourself with pump up jams and feel good pop. Or death metal if that's your equivalent of what a solid key change is for me. Can't tell you how many times I've been in a shit mood only to realise it's because I haven't been listening to my own music enough. Never underestimate the power of 1D.

Feed Yourself

Comfort eating is called that for a reason. Also your body needs food to work.

Swaddle Yourself

Get in ya PJs, grab some pillows and wrap yourself in a blanket like a newborn child. 

Colour and Light

Again, like a tiny tiny baby, you are going to expose yourself to lots of bright and visually stimulating things. Tumblr, instagram, Pixar movies, doesn't matter as long as it's bright and colourful. Also light. If it's sunny outside at the very least sit near a window and if it's not then I don't know, sit near a lamp? Honestly I wrote half of these dot points the other day when I was dragging myself out of my own rut and I'm semi trying to figure out what I meant by half of them.

Productivity

Big advocate of the idea that productivity will always make you feel better. This doesn't mean you have to sit down and do a month's worth of uni work or write an entire novella, just get something done. Clean your room. Write a To Do list for when you're feeling better. Make lasagne. I really want lasagne.

Something New

You want to create distance between yourself moving forward and your life as someone who is stuck in a little hole of sadness and stagnation. Change something in your room or start a new project or cut yourself a really beautiful new side fringe to signify the depth of your current emotional turbulence. Don't actually do that one. For bonus points try and do something you hadn't thought of before to restore faith in your ability to generate new ideas.

Something You've Been Putting Off

A really great way of getting yourself unstuck in one area is to push yourself to unstick something else first. I imagine this like one of those toys toddlers have where all the shapes fit in the holes, and you can't get the circle to come out, so just pop out the hexagon first and restore a bit of your self-belief before you come back to the circle. I know that's not technically how they work but just go with it. A lot of these tips are quite infancy-related aren't they.

Go Outside

Don't tell my mum I put this one in.

Force Yourself Into A Routine

If you really, truly can not get your act together then write down the basic points of what you need to get done every day in order to meet your own base level standards and needs, work them into a routine and force yourself to follow it whether you feel like you want to or not. This way even if you still feel like crap at least you're not falling even further behind on the basic requirements of your life.

Shamelessly Emulate Someone Who Has Their Shit Together

You heard me. This doesn't mean become a carbon copy of them because that is very stupid and counterproductive, especially when you're really trying to improve yourself here, but pick out certain admirable habits or qualities and use those as inspo/a starting point for self-improvement.

Reintroduce Your Sense Of Self

I have no idea how you can do this but you need to. I think I did it through a mixture of music, scheming, doing my eyeliner real badass, watching my own videos (can't fight it, won't fight it) and reading cards/letters from people I care about, which I think worked as a way of kind of centring myself and touching base despite the fact I can't see most of them in person right now. Basically think of things that are very you and immerse yourself in them.

Move Forward WITH Change

If you're feeling this way because of something specific that's happening to you, resisting the change is only going to make things worse so you need to figure out a way of moving forward with your life. At the very least accept the change; ideally find ways to use it to your advantage.

Create A Mood Board/Vision Board/Inspo Board/Any Kind Of Board

Always a fan of visual aids. A proper vision board may be a bit of a stretch if you're finding it hard to prioritise and think clearly, but there are always other options. You can print out some quotes and stick them on a piece of cardboard. You can go through some magazines and make a collage of things you like solely because they look pretty. Today I got a piece of paper and just started drawing and writing down different things that were on my mind or that appeal to me at the moment to kind of create a visual representation of the inside of my brain right now. Like some lightning and a poem I found the other day that I actually liked for once and the musical notation to the introduction of a song that's significant to me and has been stuck in my head. It wouldn't mean much to anyone else but to me I can tell that it's all in different sections and it looks nice and I feel like it's helped me organise my thoughts. Things tend to be easier to manage when you can actually see them.

There you go. Those are the main steps I took to get out of my rut, and have continued taking to build up momentum since then. If you're feeling a bit shit I hope you feel better soon, and in the meantime go get yourself a blanket and some snacks while you load a Hilary Duff movie. Everything's better with H.Duff.

x0

*No offense to unproductive emo hermits I'm sure yall are nice people I just don't wish to join your clan