It won’t last forever. You’ve had bad days followed by good days before.

Think about another time when you were going through hell. How it seemed like the end of the world, how you didn’t know what to do, and yet you still got through it. You know life is like this from time to time. It is a rollercoaster with high points and low points – neither one lasts forever.

I know it’s hard right now. I know you’re stuck in the middle of it and it’s hard to imagine anything else. But I promise this is not the end, there will be more good days if you can just hold on.

Your toolbox is not empty.

There are some habits or resets that have helped on days like this before. Maybe a walk, maybe working out, maybe just cleaning a small part of your room. I’m not saying you feel like doing those things right now, but can you admit that there are one or two things that usually improve your mood, even if only slightly? 

Well, now that you’ve admitted there’s something that can make you feel better, why not choose to do it? It doesn’t matter if it sounds fun or not. You’re making a choice about “do I want to feel better or not?” Don’t choose the wrong answer.

Life is made of moments like these. Let’s get better at them.

I’d love to say things will get easier. That a new job or a new partner or a new apartment will make hard days like this go away. I’d like to say that decisions will become easy and hard work will be rewarded and dark slumps won’t happen anymore. But it’s a lie. There are so many days that nothing sounds fun. When the motivation isn’t there and the results aren’t coming and you just don’t want to do anything.

We have to get better at handling days like these – because they aren’t going away. This is not a statement about “git gud” as much as “get used to picking options you won’t regret later.” You already know how it feels to lay in bed all day. You already know how much it sucks to wake up with the exact same problems you had yesterday. The problem of “I know what I should do but I don’t want to” is part and parcel of the human condition.

Do you know what does feel good? Progress. If you don’t have any positive feelings right now you’ll need to create them via positive action. It’s your life, but please know you can make things better if you want to. I hope you do.

Further Reading: If this post resonated with you then I think you would get a lot out of Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss. It’s a compilation of life advice from 100+ individuals from all walks of life. Stories of their darkest failures and what got them through it, quotes they always come to for strength, and what ideas changed them the most. I read a few pages each morning to start my day on a positive note. Life is hard, but their stories remind me I’m not alone – and neither are you.