Stuck in a Rut? Start Small: Doing Something New, Reaching Out, and Moving Your Body

Lifehacker's piece begins with a distinction: a bad day is ordinary, but a stretch that runs to weeks or months of feeling unmotivated, lost, or hopeless is something else. To get at that second kind of problem, the site asked its readers for their own experiences of climbing out, then combined the replies with its own suggestions and some research. The article was first published in September 2014 and updated on January 25, 2021, to meet the site's style guidelines.

The first suggestion is simply to do something. If the days run wake, work, sleep, repeat, the article says, something outside the routine can loosen things up. Readers recommended volunteering, taking a class, or doing community service. Ken Reynolds described what that looked like for him. He had always been fascinated by programming but had talked himself out of it, believing he wasn't smart enough. This time he signed up for Codecademy and learned JavaScript. A close friend encouraged him to apply for a software engineer position at IBM, and he got it. His advice was to do anything, and then not stop. The article also notes that the action can be small: fix a wobbly doorknob, cancel a Netflix subscription, or book an appointment you've been avoiding.

The second section is about support. The article argues that nobody does everything alone, and that a friend, family member, or coworker can listen, advise, or push you out the door for a walk. A commenter called Piccles said reconnecting with college friends he hadn't seen in a couple of years gave him the strength to keep going. The article is explicit about depression. If you think you might be depressed, it says, seek help, because depression involves more than simple unhappiness. It adds that checking in on mental health should matter as much as checking on physical health, and that there is some way to talk to someone even if you can't afford it. Another commenter, Fiona2393, found strength in words: the response Gene Kranz of Mission Control gave his team after the loss of three astronauts in a launchpad fire. She said admitting she had made mistakes and had work to do was half the battle.

Exercise comes next. The article lists the benefits as more confidence, less stress, better sleep, and more energy, and suggests starting modestly, such as a 25-minute daily walk. Commenter pdxwhy began walking for fitness, became a race-walking enthusiast, and used the time to think, meditate, and pray. At the ambitious end, Scott Thigpen saw the documentary Ride the Divide, about the Tour Divide, one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. He trained for two years, applying Getting Things Done principles to cycling, and on June 14, 2013, started the race alongside more than 160 people from around the world.

The article then turns to the outdoors. It cautions that a few minutes outside probably won't transform your life, but cites recent research in which participants sat either in a room or outdoors for varying periods without electronic devices. Negative emotions dropped in both settings after a few minutes, but being in nature tended to produce positive emotions as well. The article puts the figure at as little as five minutes.

The final and longest section covers changing something in your life. Readers are encouraged to identify whether a place, a job, or a person is the source of the negativity. Commenter angrygreycatreads couldn't quit a job but set boundaries, leaving on time for a yoga class. Scarlet.pirate treated friendships like work commitments, scheduling them and asking a specific question like whether someone is free Friday after work rather than a vague invitation. Edenn1423 left a city with a bad job and a bad relationship, and three years later reported earning twice as much for 90 percent less work, buying a house, expecting a baby, and quitting heavy nightly drinking. Reboot described a shift in thinking: realizing he was causing some of the bad things by his choices, and that rethinking them helped, though bad things still happen.

The piece closes by acknowledging there is no single right answer, since situations differ. It is a collection of anecdotes and general advice rather than clinical guidance, so for anyone dealing with depression its own advice points toward professional help alongside these steps.