24 Things You Can Do If You’re Feeling Insufficient, Unworthy, And Lost

1. Take a cold, hard look at all of the people you’re influenced by on social media. Unfollow people that make you feel like you’re a failure in life along with anyone that reminds you of painful memories from the past.

2. Turn off your phone and computer. Take one hour to do something that isn’t image-based. This could be anything, but here are a few examples: write your current stream of thoughts and feelings in your journal, read a book you’ve always wanted to read but never got a chance to, make a nourishing and wholesome meal that you haven’t tried before, take a simple but luxurious bath (with or without bubbles), declutter, or go for a walk outside.

3. Make a list of things that you are still ruminating over. Next to each item on your list, write down exactly why you are still feeling tormented and haunted by this and what you can do to move on and recover.

4. Make an anti-to-do list for the week. Write down all the things that you don’t want to do or waste any time on. On another page, write down why you habitually resort to these things and identify the ways you can uproot these unhealthy and self-destructive habits.

5. Go through every inch of your living space, and sort all items into three piles: what you love and absolutely want to keep, what you are undecided about keeping, and what you definitely want to donate or throw away. This is a highly therapeutic practice that helps you prioritize areas in your life based on what you own and how you want to downsize in order to design a lifestyle that emphasizes clarity, contentment, and honesty.

6. Stop stalking people on LinkedIn to see how they’re doing after graduation or what kind of professional measures of success they have attained (I know you do this…don’t look at me like that).

7. Create a resume that best reflects what you are capable of and have the potential for, even when you feel like you don’t have any relevant experience or are just getting started. Individualize your resume with your signature color scheme, your distinct way of communicating and phrasing things, and interests that could pertain to the type of position you’d like to apply for. Do all this without thinking about how others are better than you for being ahead.

8. Collect quotes from articles, books, essays, or anybody that inspires you. Find at least 50 that resonate with you and empower you to take action to improve your life, grow into the person you want to become, and most of all, love yourself the way you are. Take the time to handwrite all of these quotes in your special journal, so you can read them and feel encouraged whenever you feel down.

9. Make a list of your top 10 favorite quotes and make a poster for your wall that incorporates all of these quotes in a creative and visually-appealing way.

10. Make a list of things you’ve done this year that you feel good about. This list will remind you that you’ve come a long way from where you began and how much potential you still have for the future.

11. Write down the personality traits that you love most about yourself. Write about how they’ve positively affected others around you.

12. Do something that puts you into a zen-like state and makes you forget about everything else around you. Sleeping is included.

13. Identify what causes you to feel insecure. You will find that most, if not all, of these causes are external (what society propagates, how others show off their highlight reel, what your parents think you are failing at, what your peers are doing, etc.) and you genuinely don’t feel that way about yourself, since you recognize that the insecurity that you feel today originates from being raised to compete with and outdo others since childhood.

14. Make yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea, sit near a window, and allow yourself to embrace the stillness.

15. Dress up in an outfit that makes you feel powerful, confident, attractive, and totally yourself. So much that you don’t feel envious or inferior when you see another attractive, impeccably-dressed person in the room.

16. If you’re passionate a social cause, find local places you can volunteer at. And make an effort not to broadcast it on social media or brag about it because volunteering and being generous shouldn’t be means of validating your existence or gaining likes. Do it for yourself and the people you’re helping out.

17. Reach out to people you know who are struggling with issues that are similar to yours. Offer your encouragement and take the time to listen to their stories and perspectives.

18. Make a weekly challenge in which you establish one new habit each week. Essentially, you’re starting with one new habit (or small lifestyle change), and then adding another one on top of that for the next week, and so on.

19. Create a vision board (this can be print or digital – it’s your choice). Look for images with aesthetics that are most similar to yours. Add anything that you feel best represents who you are and who you want to become a year from now.

20. Write down all of the best memories from your childhood and reflect on how they currently make you feel.

21. Make a chart with goals of your past self and current self. Compare and contrast. Recognize that your goals now are more closer to your genuine self and less prone to incorporate influences from people that had power over you in the past. Remind yourself that this is progress and you are always evolving.

22. Create a timeline of your life. First fill in the major life events (birth, school, jobs, the type of events you post on Facebook, etc.). Next, fill in the most important moments that have shaped who you are, which cannot be defined by societal measures of progress. Write down why the things in the latter category matter most to you.

23. Plan a trip for two months from now. This will give you some new experiences to look forward to.

24. Open up iMovie or Windows Movie Maker (or any video software of your choice) and make a short film about your life. This engages your creative and introspective side and makes you think about how far you’ve come and what you’re all about.