5 Ways to Stay Strong Mentally When You’re Unemployed

When you’re unemployed, it is easy to become anxious and depressed. You worry about whether you’ll be able to find another job, how you’ll support your family and pay your bills.

Thoughts like this can be extremely debilitating as they tend to loop constantly around in your mind. They can keep you up at night and affect your ability to think clearly. Here are some ways to stay strong mentally.

1. Stick to a schedule
   When you’re unemployed and you aren’t using your time constructively, your mind can go down some really negative pathways. This is why it is better for you to stick to a schedule. You should still try to get up and go to bed at a certain time. A regular wake/sleep cycle can help to regulate your mood.

   

   Get dressed as though you were going out to work instead of spending all day in your pajamas watching TV shows. Have a to-do list for the day as you will feel a sense of satisfaction when you can tick off items at the end of the day.

2. Avoid emotional eating and drinking
   Emotional eating and drinking are common vices associated with the unemployed. While eating is comforting and drinking the occasional glass of wine can do no harm, too much sugar and alcohol will make you more depressed over the long term.

   

   This may be just the right time to start some healthy habits, such as intermittent fasting. The autophagy stage of intermittent fasting cleans out old cells and generates new ones. Intermittent fasting has a number of health benefits that can contribute to keeping you mentally strong. On the Lifeapps.io website, you can find out how to incorporate intermittent fasting into your daily routine.

3. Engage your mind
   Rather than waiting around for someone to contact you about a job, use the time to acquire some new skills. When your mind is busy acquiring knowledge, you have less time to focus on the wrong things in your life. Consider mastering another language, learning to code, how to paint, or how to bake.

   

   Keep actively learning instead of constantly worrying about your situation and any new skills you acquire could have a long-term benefit to your career. Learning will always benefit you personally, even if it doesn’t necessarily improve your job prospects.

4. Exercise daily
   Include a period of exercise in your daily schedule. It is well known to be able to boost your mood, thanks to the endorphins it releases. It can help relieve your stress and help you to sleep better.

   

   Exercise also gives you a change of scene as sitting on your phone or front of your computer all day can give you tunnel vision. Movement, fresh air, and different scenery can help you to regain your perspective.

5. Take some time to reflect
   At the end of the day, take some time to reflect on what you’ve managed to accomplish. Give yourself credit for each positive step you took toward staying healthy and focused, even if it was a small one.

   

   See if there is something you could do differently and where your energy is best used. Don’t be hard on yourself when you don’t manage to stick to your plan or you have a bad day.

When you’re anxious about being unemployed, it can narrow your thinking. Finding ways to deal with your anxiety will help you to think more clearly. Meditation, prayer and deep breathing can help you to stay calm and help you find the mental strength to survive unemployment.

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