Feeling Discouraged? Here's What to Do

Sadly, it’s natural to occasionally feel discouraged about how things are going in your life. Maybe you didn’t get that new job or promotion you wanted, perhaps a relationship didn’t end up working out when you thought it was going well, or maybe you feel like you’re at a standstill without anywhere else to go in life.

Discouragement can come from many sources, but that doesn’t mean you need to stay in a discouraged slump forever! There are plenty of helpful approaches you can take to overcome that obstacle and start taking steps to rediscover joy and fulfillment while getting out of your cycle of disappointing thoughts.

The article below is provided by our experts at Get Impacted, and covers eight essential steps you can follow to help escape your discouraged mindset so you can try to focus more on the positive aspects of your life.

What Does it Mean to Feel Discouraged?

Discouragement is often thinly bordered by feelings of hopelessness and disappointment. It drains us of our motivation, productivity, and happiness over time so that everything becomes more of a struggle than it should be. If you’re feeling discouraged, you’re likely focusing on your challenges, flaws, and mistakes rather than on the positives in your life, which can negatively impact many aspects of your daily routine if you’re not careful.

Eight Stellar Steps to Addressing and Overcoming Discouragement

Overcoming your feelings of discouragement can seem complicated, especially if you’ve felt discouraged for an extended period and nothing seems to go your way. To start addressing and moving beyond these negative feelings today, begin by following each of the eight steps below so you can approach life from a newer, better perspective of hope and peace. 

1. Be Honest With Others and Yourself

When you feel discouraged, depressed, or just negative in general, sometimes your first instinct is to bottle everything up, minimize it, or pretend everything is fine when it isn’t. But if you do this, those negative feelings will only continue to build until you can’t hold them back anymore. Eventually, they’ll rear up with a sad and angry vengeance that wreaks havoc on both your mental and physical health.

Being honest with yourself and others to avoid this is crucial. You shouldn’t try to sugarcoat your emotions or feel the need to put a positive spin on how bad you feel. No one can help you- and you certainly can’t help yourself- if you don’t admit how you genuinely feel.

2. Manage Your Expectations 

If you want to stop feeling discouraged or disappointed, you also need to manage your expectations carefully so that you won’t be let down so often. Discouragement often results from expectations that don’t align with reality, so you need to find a productive middle ground where things are more likely to turn out well. That said, you also need to accept that not everything will turn out your way.

3. Reprioritize

A primary cause of discouragement is overworking yourself. It’s critical to look at everything you do and reprioritize things so you can focus on what’s most important. Are you focusing too much on small things that don’t make a significant impact on your life? Are you neglecting more crucial things? Create a to-do list of what’s essential and either pause or cancel the things you can. You’re only one person and can only do so much in a single day.

4. Ask for Help

Even when you manage your expectations, are honest with yourself and others about your emotions, and reprioritize your life, you may still feel like you’re in a funk. However, you’ll likely find yourself in a better place to ask for help and support. Doing this can take a lot of courage- especially in America, which fosters a culture of strong independence- but people are often willing to hear you out, offer advice, and even provide outright solutions if they can.

Do you need help overcoming your discouragement and negativity? Learn about how our experts at Get Impacted can help!

5. Abandon Perfectionism 

Perfectionism doesn’t just lead to discouragement; it is also wildly unhealthy and scientifically linked to severe mental health issues, including depression, self-harm, and eating disorders. You need to remember that perfection is impossible and can never be achieved. It’s not only alright to take a break and relax now and again, but it’s also essential for your overall health. Let yourself make mistakes without berating yourself. As long as you try your best, you’ll be fine.

6. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

When feeling discouraged, the last thing you should ever do is compare yourself to others, especially if your first instinct is to compare your shortcomings to their successes. If you’re already feeling discouraged, insecure, or inadequate, comparing yourself to others will only make things worse. Focus only on yourself and do your best. It’s alright if you take longer to do something or can’t do everything others can. It will never decrease your worth as a person.

7. Don’t Dwell on Negative or Discouraging Thoughts

It can be challenging to block out discouraging or negative thoughts, but you need to avoid focusing on them, especially for extended periods. Even if you feel discouraged, that feeling- and the thoughts that come with it- do not define you. You don’t have to believe every bad idea that comes to mind. Instead, remind yourself of the positives and don’t let yourself spiral too deep into the pit of negative thinking.

8. Practice Gratitude

Discouragement can easily lead to self-pity and discontentment with life and can even make you feel dissatisfied with all of the good things that may be happening. It’s a good idea to focus on what you’re grateful for and all of the blessings you’ve received, even if it’s sometimes easier to focus on what you don’t have.

Be thankful for everything that you do have and all that you’ve accomplished so far, and you’ll be able to steadily overcome your discouragement to find excitement over what you’ll achieve in the future. Overall, gratitude leads to greater happiness and overall feelings of positivity.

Girl in black clothing siting in a park throwing tree leaves into the air.

Final Thoughts to Consider

It can sometimes feel almost impossible to overcome your discouragement and other negative emotions that make you feel like you are stuck in place. But you don’t have to dwell on these feelings or let them define or control your life.

Practicing the above skills will help you notice the flawed negativity in your thoughts and encourage you to move forward in a more positive direction. Also, please consider exploring our range of expert resources at Get Impacted for access to even more information!

Are you looking for more ways to improve your positive thinking while overcoming discouragement? Learn about how our experts at Get Impacted can help today!