Stuck in a rut?

The trouble with Autumn is that whether we’re aware of it or not we all suffer a bit with the winter blues. Just the thought of spending the next few months knowing that the days are going to get darker, the weather is going to get colder. It just makes us all a bit more prone to looking at our life under a microscope and finding everything that feels wrong. We might start thinking like we’ve just got stuck in a rut, life is monotonous, dreary and uninspiring. Everyday, every week, the same routine, what the point! So how can we make ourselves stop feeling like this, and start making if feel exciting and new again? Well the first thing to do is to make a conscious decision to try and do something about it.

Give yourself some little personal challenges, they’re a very good way of motivating yourself to do something new. If you’ve got no realistic target it is easy to make a half hearted effort and then give up. However, when we have something very clear and perfectly achievable to aim for, it is much more likely we will actually do it. Little achievements go a long way!

We could spend 24 hours a day complaining about various things; but, would that give us any real lasting satisfaction? When we moan about stuff, all we’re doing is actually making our energy and focus negative. Complaining just makes life seem more dreary and unfair. So stop it!

Focus on the here and now. Stop spending time regretting the past, or worrying about the future! Everyone makes decisions they later regret, but, if you’re constantly thinking about it you will not be able to move forward and forget it. So don’t be preoccupied with the past or the future, try to enjoy the present moment.

Sometimes the things that life swings at us are known about before they happen, some of them are very much not, and knock us for 6! Along the way we find the little doors of opportunities in-between. People often say “Ahh when one door closes, another one opens” but sometimes it just doesn’t. Just because a door closes on you it doesn’t mean it’s down to some fault of yours like ignorance, arrogance, pride or incapacity, but usually because that particular door no longer goes anywhere for you.

Learn to do something new! Learning a new skill, what ever it is gives us the opportunity to find a new avenue for creativity. Being creative, however we do it gives us a sense of pride and achievement to! Also, if it’s something we’ve never done before we get a great feeling of self improvement too.

Do something for somebody else. Sounds simple doesn’t it! The trouble is when we live only for our own pleasure, there often feels like there’s something lacking. When we do something for other people, we bring out the best in ourselves. It makes us feel good about ourselves and the people we’re doing something for feel good too! It’s a win win situation!

Look at things from a slightly different perspective. When we think life has become boring, it is often a reflection of our inner attitude. If we have a tendency to be negative, then it is more likely that we become bored with life. So try and look at things from a different perspective; stop complaining about other people, if you wait for other people to behave as you want them to, you will always be waiting. Instead change the way you see them.

Don’t listen endlessly to your own thoughts, It’s our own thoughts that make us feel we are stuck in a rut, and that life is boring. So why do we have to listen to these thoughts? Learn to let go of these negative thoughts when they happen. If you instead start focusing on the positives we’ve got, it will make a big difference to our outlook.

Spend time with silly people, who make us laugh! Stop wasting all that energy feeling sorry for yourself. If you spend some time with enthusiastic and slightly daft people, (we all know a few!) some of this energy will rub off on you! Even if you don’t particularly feel up to it, meeting other people will take you out of yourself and help to re-energise you.

Even in the most boring experiences in the world there is always the opportunity for humour. So let not take life too seriously.  Without humour the world would have ended hundreds of years ago. We’re only here a relatively short time after all, we only get one good shot at it, so we may as well have a laugh along the way!