9 life-changing habits to adopt when you feel lost in life

When you feel lost in life, these habits may be transformative for you. Adopting habits of successful people, of happy people, of people who are fulfilled in their daily activities is one way that you can find new meaning and redefine your life. It is not enough to just live your life – you need to take an active role in your life. Participate in your life and take tangible steps in bettering your life. These nine habits, from TIME, could truly prove to be transformative in your life if you adopt them.

1) Volunteer

Zig Ziglar has famously said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” This holds truest when it comes to volunteering. If you are not satisfied with your life, or can’t seem to get over feeling down, it might be time for you to get up and go help somebody else. Helping other people helps us. Give it a try.

2) Embrace your emotions

If you’re sad, it’s okay to be upset for awhile. “We’re meant to feel happiness, fear, sorrow, anger, disappointment, jealousy, passion, love… the full spectrum.” Without all of these emotions, life is a dull place. Experience the emotions when they come at you. If you don’t, they won’t just go away. We are meant to experience the full range of emotions and so allowing yourself to experience them will help you deal with situations and move past the emotions surrounding them. Otherwise, they will most likely continue to crop up when you want to deal with them least.

3) Count your blessings

You are blessed. Remember that. “There’s always someone out there in circumstances far worse than yours.” Remember this when you need to pick yourself up and move on in life… otherwise, you’ll be stuck in a rut. Sometimes you need to just take a step back and appreciate your own life and count your own blessings to realize you really are going to be okay.

4) Cherish your loved ones

It’s your loved ones who will be the ones who will pick you up when you’re feeling down. Cherish your loved ones. Remind them how much you care about them and remember how important their own needs and emotions are so that you can be there for them as well. These are the people who are there for you, so you need to get into the habit of letting them know that you appreciate that.

5) Judge less, accept more

If it isn’t your life, you don’t have to be responsible for what happens in it. Remember, “Everyone has a story, a battle of some sort, that no one else knows about.” Let other people fight their fights and if it doesn’t interfere with your daily work… don’t let it get to you. Don’t waste negative energy judging the actions of other people who you don’t control..

6) Take care of your body

When you meditate or exercise or eat healthy (or all three), you are giving yourself the opportunity to be a better, happier person through wellness. Wellness is important in finding happiness because when you take care of your body, your mind will be in a better place. Give yourself the time to relax. Sleep enough, but don’t waste your days sleeping to pass the time. Remember balance in your life.

7) Make lists

Organization and focus are vital to any person’s success. When you feel lost in life, making lists and focusing on goals will help you to find a path out of that place of loss. Writing down your goals and aspirations will allow you to step forward and find a path to achievement. Without lists, you might not know where you want to go and you may end up continuously walking aimlessly in circles.

8) Find an outlet

Music, writing, exercise… find something that can help you blow off the steam. “Embracing your emotions is important, but releasing those emotions is just as important.” Be sure to give yourself ample opportunity to release the pent-up emotions that you have or they will continue to eat away at you on the inside.

9) Live with your heart and your head

Follow your dreams, but don’t act without reason. “Life is short. Don’t waste your time on mistakes that could’ve been easily prevented by thinking twice and having an honest conversation with yourself.” The bottom line is that you need to be realistic with your goals and abilities and you need to re-think things. If you’re financially unstable – you probably need to follow your head a little more than your heart to realize you can’t book a week-long vacation. However, you might be able to take the day off of work and relax a little bit at home.