These will change everything

It is incredibly important to do the things you enjoy doing. 

Make sure you have at least three things that will lift up your spirit. It can be a movie you love to rewatch over and over again, songs you sing along to, a nice date with yourself. 

Be comfortable on your own.

Going places on your own is a great experience in general. You need to learn to enjoy your own company, get to know yourself on a whole other level. 

Write about your day.

Journaling is an amazing thing for keeping track of things you do and how you feel about doing them to later look back and be able to tell for sure what makes you happier and what puts you down. Sometimes it’s hard to see these things clear right there in the moment.

Don’t have expectations of other people. 

The only person that can make you happy is you. When you expect less of people you won’t get disappointed. Also, don’t be afraid to set your standards high – when it comes to friendships and romantic relationships, don’t settle for less than you think you deserve because it’s a recipe for disaster. 

Don’t let other people steal your happiness.

If somebody is rude to you, it’s not you that’s the problem, it’s them. If somebody laughs at you, ridicules your dreams and aspirations, makes fun of your appearance or tries to put you down in any other way – it’s not you, it’s them. 

Shake it off, it doesn’t actually mean anything. When a person is being an asshole towards you for no apparent reason it’s just them showing their true colors to you, a reflection of who they are as a person, nothing more, nothing less and it’s never worth it to take that kind of a thing personally.

Work out.

Physical activity that you enjoy will definitely make you happier. 

So figure out what you like doing – swimming, heavy lifting, yoga, running, roller skating, hiking, maybe even something as simple as a regular walk – possibilities are truly endless. I don’t know a lot of people who genuinely enjoy going to the gym, but I know plenty of people who love volleyball, cycling and many other different activities. 

Make working out about having a great time, not about fitness or weightloss. It truly is a game changer for your mood and energy levels. Physical activity has been scientifically proven to be incredible for the mental health in many people so it is definitely worth it.

Great sleep is another milestone on your way to happiness. 

Being well rested significantly improves your mood, motivation to accomplish things and general quality of life. It’s important to have at least somewhat of a stable sleeping schedule in order for your body to get used to it and produce right hormones at the right time. 

Make sure to sleep in a room that has as little of the light as possible because melatonin – our main hormone of sleep – is produced while it’s dark around you. It’s also best not to eat right before sleeping and stay away from caffeine in any form for at least six hours before bedtime.

Try your best to eat healthy at least 60% of the time. 

It’s probably unrealistic to aim for one hundred let alone it being incredibly boring. Taking good care of your physical body is a necessary step on the way to healthy mentality. 

Eating junk food all the time will make you feel guilty about it – even if you don’t realize it, your subconscious mind is doing its thing and that’s bound to make you less happy over time. Moderation is the key. Eat healthy to feel happy about caring for your body (by the way, healthy can and should be delicious and enjoyable, you don’t have to torture yourself) and then have unhealthy things occasionally too, because let’s be honest, it’s satisfying as hell.

For everybody happiness is different. Nobody is happy all the time, we all have our highs and lows. If you’re not happy in this moment, don’t beat yourself up about it, it’s definitely okay not to be okay. Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re happy and only when you look back at your past self you see all of your happy moments. Hindsight is 20/20.

Disclaimer: I’m not a psychotherapist nor a mental health specialist of any kind, I’m just sharing my personal tips and experiences that worked for me in the past and keep working now. I advise you to take everything you read with a grain of salt and always double check all the info you get.