How to Stop Feeling Sad

Are you feeling heartbroken right now because of a recent loss of a friend, a breakup with a lover, a betrayal, or any other circumstance that has brought you down in life? Whatever has caused you pain and regardless of its impact, it’s important to realize that pain is a part of life. Fortunately, most feelings of distress will fade with time. In the meantime, you can make positive changes in your life to help you feel more comfortable and ready to move on after a heartbreaking event.

Table of Contents

Make positive emotional changes

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Acknowledge and accept what hurts you. You need to identify your pain instead of letting it control you. Big disappointments or unexpected hurt can make it hard to accept. Just enduring the pain will make you miserable. So acknowledging your pain can help you heal and move on. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Take a moment to practice breathing and thinking about your feelings without trying to criticize or analyze them. For example, you might think, “I’m sad and angry because of my argument with Mr. Thanh”.
Identifying your emotions will help you separate them from who you are. Remind yourself that it’s okay to have feelings no matter what—negative emotions don’t make you a bad person, a failure, or a loser.
Don’t try to ignore your feelings or deny how you are feeling. Ultimately, you’ll have a harder time dealing with those feelings.

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Allow yourself to suffer. If you’ve been through a deep pain, you probably need time to feel sad, depressed, confused, or angry. Depending on what happened, you may need to struggle with these feelings for several months or even years. ^{[2] X Trusted Source National Health Service (UK) Go to the source} You need to remind yourself that it’s normal to experience negative emotions following a loss or betrayal, and don’t try to force yourself to Get over it or move on before you’re ready.

When you are suffering, you will feel sad, angry, confused, frustrated, or even guilty about what you are feeling (or not feeling). You may also find yourself preoccupied or obsessed with something bad. You will often experience mixed emotions, feeling better one day and then feeling worse the next.
If you can’t cope with your pain or find it difficult to function daily, talk to your doctor or counselor about it.

Tip: Pain is unpredictable, and it affects everyone in different ways. For example, some people will cry a lot, while others just stay silent or get angry. Don’t pressure yourself to react to a pain or loss a certain way just because you think that’s what others expect of you. ^{[3] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

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Emotional control. You may not be able to ignore or change your feelings after being hurt, but there are ways to manage them. Emotions are an essential part of being human—they help you make sense of yourself and others. However, they can also manipulate your life if you allow it. You can control your emotions in the following ways: ^{[4] X Research Source}

Take positive action. If you’re taking steps to fix the problem, your emotions won’t be able to control you—your actual thoughts will control the situation. For example, if you’re upset about not being hired, you should take the time to improve your resume.
Avoid focusing on what upsets you. Don’t worry about it until you can determine your point. You can go to the gym, call a funny friend, go grocery shopping, or run an errand around the house. You will not feel negative about yourself when you are taking action to improve the situation.
Do some simple exercise if you’re feeling stressed or depressed. For example, you can try some breathing exercises, do yoga, or meditate.

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Implement a method to help you close the traumatic experience . Since every relationship or event has a beginning, they automatically end. You can also create an ending by closing the event. Define a method in advance so you know when you’ve done what’s needed to close a sad experience. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

For example, if you feel hurt by someone’s actions, you can close the situation by confronting the person who did the wrong thing and trying to forgive them. If you choose this method, try not to blame the person for what happened. Instead, just say how you feel and explain how you want to move on. Say something like, “I’m really hurt by what you did. I need space to decide if I want to continue this relationship. I’ll contact you when I want.”
Another method is to simply return the ex-spouse’s belongings and say goodbye. You should give yourself time to wrap things up, but not too long to drag things out.

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Avoid clinging to the past . You need to acknowledge the situation that hurt you and know that when it’s over, you won’t feel sad anymore. Don’t let the problem become who you are—it’s just something that happened to you. After you have accepted the painful reality and tried to close the situation, the next step is to look to the future. This means changing your mind so that you don’t cling to the past anymore.

One way to avoid clinging to the past is to learn from the past and create a plan to prevent it from happening again. Think of different ways you could improve your current situation or write down a list of lessons you have learned from going through hard times. When you take action after experiencing a negative event, you are empowering yourself to move on. ^{[6] X Research Source}
Journal or confide in someone you trust to help you work through your feelings. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Positive thinking

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Appreciate the good things in life. You should remember that no matter what happened, you didn’t give up and there was nothing wrong with you. Sometimes circumstances can change the way you think, but it cannot change the fact that there are always good things in your life.

Reconnect with activities you enjoy or notice anything positive happening in your life. Start a gratitude journal that focuses on the good things in life. Over time, you will realize that there are many things for you to be happy and grateful for. ^{[8] X Research Sources}
If you have a close friend or family member, or even a pet, spend time connecting with them and appreciating the positive difference they make in your life.
Take the time to appreciate even the little things. For example, maybe you enjoyed a good cup of tea today, or watched a movie that you really enjoyed.

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Give up negative thoughts. Think positively. You need to realize that having negative thoughts in your mind will really make your life miserable. If you find yourself thinking in a bad way, remind yourself at that moment and try to fight that negative thought and transform it into something more positive or realistic. ^{[9] X Research Source}^{[10] X Research Source}

For example, you can combat a negative thought like, “I’ll probably never meet someone who’s really nice who won’t ask too much of me,” by thinking of anyone kind and trustworthy person you know. Once you’ve identified at least one person who fits this positive standard, you’ve fought back and made that negative thought take its toll.

Do you know? Once you get used to negative thinking, you will find it difficult to switch to positive thinking. You can change this habit by replacing negative thoughts with more neutral and realistic thoughts. ^{[11] X Research Source}

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Surround yourself with happy, positive people. They can be your family, friends, someone special, and others who can help you renew your faith in humanity after being hurt. They will inspire you to recover and ultimately overcome emotional grief. ^{[12] X Research Source}

If you don’t have any close friends, try joining a class or club for people who share your interests. They are effective ways to meet new people and connect with activities that bring you joy.
Find friends you can chat with and even turn the pain into an authentic story to share with others. You can use what happened to you as a warning so others can avoid the same problem.
For example, you could say to a friend something like, “Sang, can we talk? I want to tell you about what happened to me…” Then you can share. his story. Ask for help by saying something like, “I really need a hug right now”.

Learn to rebuild

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Take responsibility for your actions and feelings. If you are the cause of what happened to you, you have an opportunity to become stronger and grow from that experience. This doesn’t mean you have to take all the blame or feel ashamed for what happened. Instead, be frank about the mistake you made or any lessons you can learn from that experience. ^{[13] X Research Source}

You’ll feel comfortable knowing that you can make changes from here on out to avoid trouble again. It’s a way to regain your strength and stop letting other people or situations manipulate you.

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Share your story with someone you trust. Sometimes, being able to talk about something that hurt you can help ease your pain. You should give yourself the time and freedom to cry, laugh, and tell the story you need to share. Perhaps you will find that a situation that seemed like a difficult one suddenly becomes less serious when you share your experience with friends. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Feeling sad or miserable is not something that you should hide from the people around you. Your wishes will be hard to come by if you don’t tell those around you that you need their help.
You could start by saying something like, “I wanted to tell you everything I’ve been through. You probably don’t know, but you’re the person I turn to when I need help…”
You can also join a support group for people with similar experiences and share your story with them.

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Take care of yourself . You will find it hard to feel better if you don’t take care of your body. Even if you’re not in the mood to do anything, remind yourself to eat, sleep on time, and get some exercise. Get better emotional support by taking care of yourself. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Being kind to yourself when you’re hurt is an important part of the healing process.
Try to eat a healthy balanced diet, be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, and get at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
It also helps to engage in some self-care activities that help you de-stress, like reading or playing ball with your dog.

Tip: Besides taking care of your physical and mental health, practicing self-care also means continuing to deal with real problems. Try to set aside some time each day to handle the things you need to get done, like doing your homework, paying the bills, or buying groceries.

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Set personal boundaries for the future. If you’ve been hurt in a relationship, setting clear boundaries can help you avoid similar troubles in the future. Prepare a list of basic needs and non-negotiables in future relationships. It’s up to you to assert yourself and let others know what you expect from a friendship or relationship. ^{[16] X Research Source}

This list can be used as a guide to the interactions you want to have with others. If you feel like your needs aren’t being met within established boundaries, then you can end problems before they turn into new pain or betrayal.
You can set limits such as: don’t date people who make you compromise your values, don’t hang out with someone who abuses drugs or engages in delinquency, or doesn’t give too much attention to your needs. into a one-sided relationship.
Try to clearly communicate your boundaries to others, and also let them know the consequences if they don’t respect them. For example, you could say something like, “I love you, but I won’t visit you on vacation if you keep complaining about my weight.”

Steps

Make positive emotional changes

Positive thinking

Learn to rebuild

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