5 Ways To Stop Feeling Like Crap In Your 20s

Life can suck sometimes but you can Change it

Sometimes life sucks. You are shown all these great things on social media, whether it's Instagram, Youtube or Twitter. People are all doing amazing things and you feel like you’re the only one who is missing out. Your friend is travelling across the world, you see people your age working in fortune 500 companies, publishing books, leading Startups, Getting married, when you’re just trying to figure out how to not feel anxious all the time.

This was me a year ago.

It's easy to get overwhelmed when you’re constantly bombarded with information that only makes you feel worthless and you are doing nothing. Especially if you’re in your 20s and you’re trying to navigate your life and haven’t really figured out where exactly you fit in or even what career you want to get into or what are the things you want to do in life.

I was struggling with this problem for a while last year but I took these steps and it has helped me be more relaxed, do more things and stay focused on figuring out what I am good at and how can I build it.

Limit your Social Media Presence

Imagine your 6 years old self-being lured by a strange lady that gives you loads of candy. She makes you feel wonderful takes you to her cabin and then cages you. Before you realise she is a witch who turns you into a magical rat that does everything she says.

Social Media does exactly that. They take you in then before you know it, You are not using Social Media websites for your benefit but they are using you for their benefit. Last year I watched this Netflix documentary drama called The Social Dilemma. It was very relatable. Although Social Media can be a powerful tool to help you grow. It's important to be aware of how much you are letting yourself be consumed by technology.

The best thing to do is limit your presence. Put a time limit to how much you use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or whatever is that you use. Cut down the activity time by half. Do it for a week and you will experience the changes yourself.

Take care of your biological clock, Sleep enough

Throughout most of 2020, I didn’t sleep or sleep very less. In the morning, I woke in a foul mood didn’t want to talk to anyone, didn’t feel like doing anything. It increased my anxiety level, I didn’t feel good about myself and I wasn’t able to do much on any given day. My mind was less focused and I struggled to stick with anything I did.

Sleep is one of the basic things all living beings share. According to a study, more than 27% of people are not able to sleep in the US alone. This seems more common in young individuals as well. Not setting your biological clock in check and not getting enough sleep can be a major issue.

Although many people find their most productive hours during the night. People should still get enough sleep. Studies have shown people who sleep well are more likely to be in a better mood, feel less anxious and be more productive throughout the day.

When I did start to sleep well for a year, my anxiety was very low. I felt better about myself and was able to do more reading, learning and overall it felt good about myself.

Experiment Hobby-work

It doesn’t matter what you do but starting somewhere is important. Most of the time, I tell a lot of people I am going to do something and then do it for a week or two or a month for most and stop doing it. It makes me feel like crap after that for not being able to be disciplined enough to stick with it.

Now that I think about it, I was wrong.

I am realising that it's okay to do something and drop it in the middle and change to do something else. Yes, you cannot compromise for certain things such as stopping to eat or sleep but even in these things you can change what you eat and decide on what time you want to sleep and wake up at.

Hobby-Work is the same. Hobby-Work means a Hobby that can ultimately help you get paid for what you do. It can be writing blogs, creating videos on Tiktok or youtube, painting, playing an instrument or whatever you do can be monetized, if you practice it and stick with it long enough.

So don’t worry about not being disciplined or not being able to stick with it. Go Try out different things but always do something. It's okay to change, maybe you lost interest or are too busy with other things (which we all know is a lie) or found something more interesting to do.

But as long as you’re alive be on to something Experiment with a Hobby-Work.

5 minutes workout

I never enjoyed exercising. It always felt like work. Something I absolutely don’t enjoy doing but then with no exercise I felt even worse about myself. Hanging out with friends who have an amazing fitness level and seeing everyone in health and fitness these days.

So In 2021, I decided to work out only for 5 minutes each day. In the beginning, It made me feel happy that I am putting some effort into doing it. After a week I was able to increase my workout time to 10 minutes. After 3 months I was exercising 25 minutes each day with 10 minutes of afternoon Yoga.

I felt great about myself. Little Things matter.

Do Nothing

When I say doing nothing, it means literally doing nothing. Simply being, not thinking, writing, sleeping, watching Netflix or any of thing at all.

It simply means doing nothing.

Doing Nothing is the most important thing. I learned this in 2015. When you do nothing you are able to relax and calm your mind. A calm mind is a beautiful mind. It helps you do more in less time.

During the pandemic, it was easier for me to stay by myself mostly because I practised this quality over the years.

In 2022 as I write this, I feel calmer than ever before. Although there are times I feel like crap I am able to navigate my way through roadblocks better than I did a year ago or even a month ago. I think it's a quality I think has helped me the most in life to live a more happy and more fulfilled life.

90% of the time we live in our mind. It's important to make sure it's a good place to be.

So every day make sure you give yourself 5–10 minutes of this time. I say do nothing I don’t mean you need to meditate. It simply means give yourself 5–10 minutes every day with yourself. You can do it with your eyes open or closed but make you are conscious and not sleeping. You might not want to do it or even feel stupid but trust me this will help you.

Just be with your mind and your body and be in the present moment for this time period. As you feel comfortable with this you can increase the duration as you like.

Give this a go and let me know how it helped you. If you are already doing this or if I missed something please let me know. Would love to discuss more on this.