5 ways to fall back in love with your life

Ever found yourself in a rut, just waiting for some force of the Universe to pull you out?

“When ennui sets in, it can be hard to find a way back into the light, but it typically takes a series of events and choices for us to be living a life out of sync with our personal goals, values, and passions”.

I find myself in these situations from time to time. Sometimes I am just fighting this sense of dread or just feeling low and at other times, I let myself fall face first into that “hole”. Many people are faced with this struggle whether it’s due to a loss of a job, a loss in general or simply from the daily issues that take its toll. By the end of the day, we no longer have anything left and don’t want to do the things we normally would enjoy like reading or meeting with friends. Too many unanswered questions left me feeling hopeless and unmotivated.

It was through my own counseling and study of psychology that helped me work through my self-limiting beliefs, determine my values, understand my value, and recognize that I could live authentically right now.

Here are a few ways that I keep myself from falling back into my hole:

1. Taking the long way home.

Sometimes it takes a literal change in perspective to change your mental perspective.

Taking the time to take the long way home and explore my world brought me back the basics and opened my heart back up to the magic. I didn’t have to move to a new place, a place that would also inevitably become home and lose its magic if I let it. I just had to change my perspective.

When we get bored or restless, we don’t necessarily have to move on. By taking the long way home, I fell back in love with my town, and by changing my physical perspective, I was able to see all of the possibilities that had been there all along.

2. Move.

I highly encourage movement to be a part of your daily life. Like anyone else, I can and will find excuses not to exercise or dance, but when I do, I feel recharged, centered, and empowered. Movement does this faster and better than anything else I’ve found.

I think this goes movement, too. When you shift your focus through movement, you start to see things a little differently, and the possibilities open up again.

3. Surround myself with the right people.

There’s nothing wrong with relating to people or venting every now and again, but it’s also important to surround yourself with people and conversations that leverage enthusiasm, excitement, and satisfaction. Spend time with people who build you up, see and encourage your strengths, and who are, themselves, living authentically.

Energy is contagious, and if you’re around positive energy and speaking with others in terms of positivity, you’ll begin to restructure your thinking, and, ultimately, the way you see and experience the world around you.

4. Be present.

Megan Camp shared “I know, I know this one’s been said before. But it can’t be said enough. One of the main reasons people feel dissatisfaction with their life is because they’re missing it.

When we are not present, we become a little numb.

Taking in this very moment as it is, truly engaging—rather than living in your head, thinking about what comes next, or brooding (or pining) over what has past—can really open up a realm of appreciation and keep you from feeling that sense of emptiness that results from living somewhere other than the here and now”.

You may even be surprised by how easy it is to learn new things or remember pieces of information when you start to fully tune in. I feel that each year that goes by and we become more reliant on technology, we are losing our ability to be mindful of ourselves and our surroundings. We are losing awareness of how things affect us and our feelings that are associated with different events. If we lose the ability to be aware of and put a name to our experiences, we are not able to process, explore or cope, which ultimately leads us back into the “hole” or rut. We can’t see it coming if we are not mindful of what’s happening in the moment.

5. Identifying my values.

What are your values? We often admire others and think we should be doing what they are doing to be successful and satisfied with our lives. In actuality, we probably admire them because they are living out their own truth. Authenticity is attractive, not quality X, Y or Z.

Identifying our values also teaches us why we respond to situations the way we do. You see, when a value is violated, we have an automatic negative reaction. Our values come from our world view which is determined based on needs that were met or not met in our childhood. When we know our values and are able to identify where they come from, we can then answer why it is a big deal for us. That is the only way we can learn to ask for what is important for us, whether it is asking it from those close to us, or even asking from ourselves.

Look within to find your values and once you do, figure out how they can be put into action so you are living your most authentic life, and start taking steps, large or small, to make them your reality.

Falling back in love with your life requires a little determination and reflection, but mostly it’s about letting go and just tuning in to your most authentic self and to the world and people around you.