I can tell you as someone who has struggled with depression on and off through the years (I had been diagnosed with situational depression), having something to look forward to is very important, for it tethers a person to hope that better days are coming.

I used to struggle with feeling hopeful. My inner self-talk was brutal to the point that I’d shrivel up inside an lose hope. I felt I didn’t deserve anything good. I felt unworthy to even breathe the air and walk the earth.

Around the time that I was so sickened with my existence, I realized that I spoke very unkindly to myself. I had a hard time changing that inner talk, because, you know, unworthiness. I struggled on anyway, starting with tiny baby steps and slowly building on each tiny success. I started to believe that maybe just maybe I did deserve some good things in my life.

Once I started to believe I maybe deserved some good things in my life, I started to look for the small things that I could feel hopeful about and that would bring me some joy. I slowly started to get into the habit of looking for the small things, and before long I realized they were the glue that was holding some of my still very difficult days together. (These were the days when my youngest granddaughter was going through her second cancer battle and I was going through a marriage that was dissolving because of that and then a divorce.) Trust me, there were some very difficult days.

It was those small things that I had to look forward to that held my days together. That was when I found I could be grateful, not because everything was going super-duper well, but because the small precious moments gave my life bits of joy and peace of mind.

Those hard days passed. The lessons from those days never left me. I learned to find joy in so many things each day. Mind you there were some days I had to look really hard for the good stuff, but once I started looking I discovered so many things that I had taken for granted before.

Life can be very difficult at time, but when we bypass the small joys and minimize them in our mind because they aren’t big or splashy, we end up shriveling up our capacity for joy. When that capacity shrinks, we can get bitter thinking the universe doesn’t love us enough to bring us the bigger joys we thing our soul needs.

Yet when we slowly build a practice of looking for those moments of joy, we actually build our capacity to see it and feel it more deeply, maybe because wee come to appreciate it even more.

I encourage you to look for little things that you can look forward to. You may be surprised where it can lead you!

Underrated mental health hack:

Have something to look forward to.
It doesn’t have to be big.
A dinner plan. A weekend walk.
A show tonight. Your nervous system
needs reminders that life isn’t just
responsibilities and survival.

meme by DeepMindsAnonymous

• Choices, Chances, Changes. You must make a Choice to take a Chance or your life will never Change.
• Time to Change the Negative Tapes!
• Everyday is a new beginning. Take a deep breath, smile, and START AGAIN.
• Let your past make you better not bitter.
• If you focus too hard on the problem, the solution can often evade you.
• No matter how long you’ve traveled in the wrong direction, you can always turn around
• We’re all a work in progress
• Self-worth comes from one thing – thinking that you are worthy
• Remind yourself that you cannot fail at being yourself
• You are allowed to be both a Masterpiece and a Work in Progress, simultaneously.
• Becoming more positive; Be in a state of gratitude for everything – new viewpoints below…
• Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it.
• The Universe believes in you. Trust you are being guided.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Blessings!
Thank you for liking, sharing this post and for following me!
Tamara

I hope you’ll poke around my Archived Posts Main page divided up into 3 sub-pages: Mental Health and Rewiring the Brain || Healing and Developing Ourselves || Positive thoughts and Affirmations to find a wonderful trove of supportive and encouraging posts!
https://tamarakulish.com/

My books: Developing Happiness When You Can’t Find It and How to Heal Your Life on a Deep Heart Level are available in paperback and Kindle. Audiobooks are available for the busy person!

Guided Journals help you work on a particular issue by answering questions to help see patterns and to find solutions:

Removing Inner Blocks ||  Anger Journal || Guided Anxiety Journal  ||  Joy & Mindfulness Journal   ||  My Boundaries Journal  || My Inner Thoughts Journal   

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