20 Little Reminders For When It Feels Like Happiness Is Out Of Reach

Find your flow and row, row, row.

It’s a quote that I have hung above my desk at home. It’s the first thing my eyes go to in the morning, and it’s the one thing my eyes catch when I throw my head up in exhaustion and frustration.

It’s been there through all the late nights, all the stressful days before exams or speeches, and all the times that I was ready to call in and give up.

When my classroom management plan didn’t work, when I had to deal with a crisis in my classroom, when my mind was so overloaded that I wasn’t sure I would make it, I found my flow and I rowed, rowed, rowed.

It’s not always easy to see the brighter side of life when you’re that deep, but I’ve compiled a list of tricks that help me stay above water. I sincerely hope they do the same for you.

1. Start a gratitude journal. Write down every little thing you’re grateful for, even if it’s just that you woke up this morning.

2. Join an organization that supports something you care about.

3. Get off the phone & get outdoors. It’s amazing what a deep breath does for the mind.

4. Listen to something. A podcast, music, a video. Something.

5. Practice self-care. Put down the homework for 20 seconds, and go wash your face.

6. Cut negative people out of your life. Negativity only breeds more negativity.

7. Laugh every day, especially when it’s at yourself.

8. Find the silver linings in everything. There always is one.

9. Call someone who makes you feel good. Your mom, your best friend, you sister.

10. Read.

11. Start every morning with telling yourself something you love about you.

12. Hug someone who looks like they need it.

13. Meditate.

14. Avoid news sites that affect your mood.

15. Find new ways to spark your creativity.

16. Realize that you have every right in this world to give yourself a break.

17. You are a person.

18. Your mental health is worth more than anything.

19. You deserve to be happy.

20. Say it until you mean it.

You deserve to be happy, you deserve to be happy, you deserve to be happy.