How to overcome apathy and despondency in difficult times

Sadness and despondency can seriously interfere with the performance of the most ordinary things and the achievement of goals. Stanislav Kuzavov, mentor of business owners and top executives on personal strategy, mentor with extensive experience tells what can be done to avoid falling into apathy, and what techniques help to get out of it.

Why is it difficult for us to do even the usual things in difficult times

If only the body were responsible for doing the usual things, but not our mind, then most likely even in difficult times we would not face any difficulties when doing the usual things – they would be fun, simple, easy and with inspiration.But we perceive all events through the prism of our past experience, through the prism of already lived episodes. Our emotional reactions are conditioned by our experiences, which are related to events and situations that we have experienced before.

However, it often becomes difficult for us in difficult times just because we start to wind ourselves up, considering the period unpromising and difficult. Often we consider them as difficult simply because we do not know exactly what we need to do at a particular moment, we are in a situation of uncertainty and we simply do not have the resource to make a decision. We call the times hard, just comparing them with other periods of life, simpler and clearer, when we knew what to do and everything worked out for us.

The simplest answer to the question of why it is difficult for us to do even the most ordinary things in difficult times will be an explanation that the focus of our attention during this period shifts, we begin to concentrate only on what is difficult for us and even simple things seem difficult to us – it may be difficult for us even to climb the stairs, to go outside or take a shower, it may seem that the elevator is going too long, and answering the call seems like an impossible task.

The habit of being sad and discouraged is typical for many. In those most difficult situations, it develops quickly and automatically, even when we ourselves do not want it. This is a normal reaction to what is happening: if something doesn’t work out for us, we can really get sad and this is completely normal.

Everyone comes out of sadness and despondency in different ways: some are able to control their condition and understand themselves that they are “stuck” in it, others can come out after others point it out to them, while others remain in it for a long time. In that case, if a person understands that he has fallen into despondency, then it depends only on him to switch the focus of his attention to something else.

What exactly you should not do in such a situation is to additionally blame yourself for the fact that you have fallen into despondency. This will not speed up the exit from this state, but will only aggravate the situation. It is much better to focus on techniques that help overcome apathy.

The most important life hack to overcome apathy

The most important thing to learn is to manage the focus of attention. In that case, if you constantly turn the same disturbing thought in your head, then it will not lead to any calmness.

You can shift the focus of attention by mastering the technique of “dissolving into emptiness”. When performing this exercise, you need to take the focus of attention from the head to the body. During the switch, you can use a variety of ways: breathing practice, the practice of scanning your body, during which you need to carefully examine yourself from head to toe, walking, in which you need to concentrate on the steps and even study the sensations that we experience just sitting on a chair. More active actions are also suitable: physical exercises (plank, squats, push-ups), handclaps, jumping. All this will help to switch the focus of attention from that moment or from that thought, because of which we begin to feel sad, discouraged, worried.

Verbal actions are also suitable for switching: you can start talking loudly, singing, reading poetry, pronouncing motivational phrases and affirmations that work just for you.

Busy people often have their focus shifted to their goal, they are interested in achieving certain results, they are either in search of resources, or in search of expertise that will help get what they want, or they are already planning a certain segment of the path to the goal.

There are cases when it is impossible to cope with apathy and despondency on their own. Your own resource may simply not be enough to get out of this. In this case, it is necessary to contact a specialist for help, although even this step may require a lot of effort.

One of the difficulties in such a situation is to notice that you are really in a deep depression. This may be clearly visible to everyone around, but it is completely incomprehensible to what is in this state. Because of this, a person will fall into this state more and more. If nothing is done, then in the future it will threaten a pre-depressive state, when a person begins to devalue himself, and he will have less and less strength for daily tasks.

It is better to seek help when you begin to feel that “something is wrong” with you, and not when the situation is very much started – it will be easier to cope with apathy if you have not yet plunged into it too deeply.

My personal experience shows that the more active and charged a person’s psyche is, the more he is prone to mood swings and depression. To prevent apathy, special events and events should be present in his routine, the accommodation of which will help to face apathy and sadness less often. This is a frequent change of activity, active activity, walks in nature – all that unloads the brain and shifts the focus of attention from experiences to observation and research. Website about men’s health ahealthyman