“We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing” - William James
All of us have worries, it is natural, life throws us punches. But what should we do when we face those worries?
We should replace the worry with action. Don’t just worry. Let your worry change into action. When you find yourself worrying about something, ask yourself that action question:
“What can I do about this worry right now?”
Then act on it, do something, anything, no matter how small.
Most of us believe an emotion, for example, happiness, comes first. Then we react to that particular emotion. However is that actually the case? This emotion arises simultaneously with doing the particular act.
So if you want to be enthusiastic, you can get there by acting as if you were already enthusiastic. Sometimes it might take a bit of time, sometimes it might be immediate, but it will always work if you stick with it, no matter how crazy you feel doing it.
Try it out, next time you are feeling down, see if you can snap out of it long enough to run a little experiment. Stop whatever you are doing, and ask yourself ‘What would a super happy version of me do right now?’ then stick with it for 10-15 minutes, see how your emotions change, you’ll likely find that feelings do in fact follow behaviour.