Eight Sure-Fire Ways to Cheer Yourself up When Feeling Down

People with ADHD often face challenges with emotion regulation, particularly when it comes to raising their spirits.

One of the features of an ADHD brain is that cheering ourselves up in positive and sustainable ways doesn’t always come naturally, so having some ideas of what we can do to achieve that can be very empowering.

Here is a selection of evidence-based ways that you can use to cheer yourself up based on psychological research and therapeutic practices:

Practice Gratitude

Focusing on what you’re grateful for shifts attention away from negative emotions and toward positive facets of life. It also brings us into the present moment, which means our brains aren’t getting a chance to be worrying about the future or ruminating on the past. Try writing down 3-5 things you’re grateful for – research shows this simple practice can significantly boost mood and life satisfaction.

Get Moving  

Physical activity is a natural way to enhance mood, triggering the release of endorphins while reducing stress and anxiety. You don’t need an intense workout – even a brief walk, gentle stretching, or dancing to your favourite song can lift your spirits. Regular movement is strongly linked to better mental health outcomes.

Reframe Your Thoughts

Cognitive reframing helps us view situations differently, improving our emotional responses. When negative thoughts arise, pause and consider alternative viewpoints. Studies demonstrate that this reframing technique effectively increases positive emotions while reducing depressive symptoms.

Stay Present with Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices help ground us in the present moment, reducing our tendency to dwell on negative thoughts. Start with a few minutes of focused breathing or a guided meditation. Research consistently shows that mindfulness reduces stress and enhances emotional well-being.

Connect with Others

Social support is particularly crucial for people with ADHD. Many clients report that spending time with understanding friends and family provides significant emotional benefits. Whether by reaching out to a friend, family member, coach, or therapist, having strong social connections correlates with increased happiness and lower depression rates.

Introduce Positive Behaviours

Engaging in enjoyable activities shifts focus from negative thoughts while triggering the release of mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine. Create a list of mood-lifting activities – from hobbies to watching favourite shows – and choose one when you’re feeling down. This approach, known as behavioural activation, is a core component of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Encourage Yourself

Counter negative self-talk with positive affirmations that resonate with you. Choose statements you can genuinely believe, such as “I am capable”, ” I am learning to do this,” or “I am worthy of happiness.” Research indicates that authentic affirmations can strengthen self-esteem and reduce negative emotions.

Extend Kindness to Others

Helping others creates a powerful sense of purpose and connection. Many people hesitate to ask for help, making the assistance you offer especially valuable. The appreciation you receive in return also generates positive feelings. Simple acts of kindness – from supporting a friend to volunteering – can significantly increase personal well-being.

Here are the eight proven ways to lift your mood in summary:

• Notice the good stuff – Take a moment to write down what you’re grateful for

• Move your body – Even a quick walk or dance can boost your spirits

• Reframe your thoughts – Look for alternative ways to look at things

• Get present – Try some mindful breathing or meditation to ground yourself

• Connect with others – Reach out to someone you trust who gets you and lifts you up

• Do something enjoyable – Pick an activity you know makes you feel good

• Say something kind and encouraging to yourself – Use affirmations you genuinely believe

• Help someone else – Small acts of kindness boost both the receiver’s mood and your own

These strategies provide some options for improving mood and emotional regulation. While particularly helpful for individuals with ADHD, these approaches can benefit anyone who wants to enhance their emotional well-being.

 

Have you ever found it hard to wake up and get yourself going in the morning? Does it sometimes take several hours before you feel properly awake? Could the crux of the matter be you’re simply not getting enough sleep?

What Exactly Is “Enough Sleep”?

Well, opinions have differed on this point. Now, the science is clear with the explosion of recent research into sleep and the brain. The evidence indicates that 8 hours per night is needed for most people to function well. Professor Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of the bestseller “Why We Sleep,” reveals in his book just how vital sleep is to our well-being.

Sleep Deprivation

Professor Walker describes lack of sleep as a modern-day epidemic that can affect the functioning of almost every system in the human body. At its most extreme, people’s lives are at risk.

In his research on how people function after missing different amounts of sleep per night, it becomes clear that missing even one night of sleep leads to cognitive impairment just as severe as if the person were legally drunk. The most insidious thing about sleep deprivation is that sleep-deprived people have a blind spot about it. They think they are functioning OK, but in reality, they are far more likely to make errors and be unable to focus, having a much higher risk of causing a traffic incident.

Other experiments on people who slept 6 hours a night for 10 nights showed that they, too, became as impaired as if legally drunk. All the signs were that the deterioration would continue to build up over weeks and months if that amount of sleep continued. Too little sleep has a severe impact.

“Chronic sleep deprivation has been reported to be associated with greater mortality via a large number of negative health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease,” according to Dr. Malcolm von Schantz of the University of Surrey. It turns out that over the last one hundred years, we have been making do with less and less sleep.

The Myth of “Getting By” on Less Sleep

How many of us believe that it is “normal and acceptable” to get by on 6 hours of sleep a night? The research shows unequivocally that nothing can replace sleep. Also, you cannot make up for lost sleep. That’s a myth. Listen to Professor Matthew Walker both busting some popular myths about sleep and explaining what works to help us sleep. https://youtu.be

The Benefits of Good Quality Sleep

So what exactly does sleep do for us that nothing else will? Having good quality sleep can bring life-changing benefits such as:

• Waking up feeling alert and full of vitality
• Better Health
• Improved learning
• Improved memory
• Emotional stability
• Complex reasoning
• Better decision-making

The Sleep and ADHD connection

Most of the above come under the category of ADHD challenges, interestingly enough. In fact, some people posit that ADHD may be, in part, a sleep disorder. While there is no way yet of proving which is a cause and which is an effect, there is nonetheless a strong correlation between ADHD and sleep problems.

If you are finding lack of sleep is making your ADHD symptoms more noticeable or having a negative impact on your day, rest assured there are many small and manageable steps you can take right away towards getting a good night’s sleep.

In part 2 of this blog series, I’ll talk about why people with ADHD find it challenging to get enough sleep and what you can do about it.

Many clients I have worked with on improving their sleep patterns find this has had a positive knock-on effect on the rest of their lives. If you’d like to explore this foundational piece of managing your ADHD through coaching, I can be reached at adhdcoachanna@gmail.com.

 

Want to Boost Your Self-Esteem? Here’s 3 Empowering Strategies that Work for People with ADHD.

 

1. Celebrate Strengths and Achievements

Focus on Strengths:

People with ADHD have many unique strengths, such as creativity, enthusiasm, and problem-solving abilities. By identifying and focusing on these and other strengths, you can build your self-esteem and boost your overall confidence.

Keeping a journal of daily or weekly achievements, no matter how small, can help shift your focus from challenges to accomplishments. Even a couple of minutes a day can make a difference.

Set Achievable Goals:

Chunking your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces can make it easier to achieve goals. Celebrating your victories, however small, can provide a sense of accomplishment and boost confidence.

 

2. Develop a Support Network

Seek Support from Loved Ones:

Family and friends who are understanding and supportive can provide encouragement and positive reinforcement. Seek out the company of those whom you feel accept and get you. Sharing feelings and challenges with trusted individuals can help relieve stress and boost morale.

Join Support Groups:

Connecting with other people with ADHD provides a sense of community and understanding. Support groups offer spaces to share experiences, learn strategies, and give and receive encouragement. Meetup offers many opportunities to meet people who have something in common. If there’s no support group in your area, you could set one up.

 

3. Engage in Positive Self-Talk and Mindfulness Practices

Practice Positive Self-Talk:

Challenging your negative thoughts when they arise and replacing them with believable positive alternatives can improve self-perception. The first step is to become aware of your thoughts and notice them. 

Regularly reminding yourself of your worth and capabilities helps counteract feelings of inadequacy. You could try setting a reminder to say kind and supportive things to yourself several times a day. Small steps build up to a big difference.

Mindfulness and Stress-Reduction Techniques:

Mindfulness practices such as meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga will help manage stress and improve focus. These practices can enhance self-awareness and self-acceptance, contributing to higher self-esteem.

By focusing on strengths, seeking support, and engaging in mindfulness practices, you can work towards improving your self-esteem and overall well-being.

It’s time to get strategic around Christmas.

If you’re a person who finds organization a challenge the rest of the year round, it may reassure you to know that you’re not alone in finding Christmas a mega-challenging time.

Christmas is a crazy-making time precisely because all the challenges come at once. That means all the strategies we need throughout the year are needed more than ever. You will need to bring out the strategies, tools, and techniques you have for managing yourself and your stuff to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Unless you want to start your Christmas preparations months before the merry day (and personally, I find that prospect extremely unappealing), all the preparations need to be done within a fairly short period over a few weeks. On top of all the other day-to-day stuff which still needs doing.

Just the kind of thing that we ADHDers find challenging. There’s so much to do and so much to remember. That’s because there is a lot to do in a short timescale. In some ways that can be a tremendous advantage for those with an ADHD brain. We are great at sprints so you can view a time-limited event like Christmas, just like a sprint or series of sprints. It’s only a few weeks away, and then it’s finished.

What kind of strategies are particularly useful at Christmas time?

1. Simplify: 

 Instead of feeling bad because you haven’t time to personally send out 100 cards to all your friends, relations, and people you want to thank at the end of the year, why not take the pressure off yourself and send some of your greetings another way, which doesn’t involve doing it all at the same time? People will be glad to hear from you anytime; it doesn’t necessarily have to be done before Christmas day, does it?

2. Do what you can in advance to make life easier on the day:

I have spent nearly every Christmas Eve of my life hurriedly wrapping presents at the last minute, but not this year! This year I will be relaxing with my feet up, with my presents already wrapped and under the tree. I set myself the challenge of completing this just a bit at a time so that on Christmas Eve, I can focus on enjoying the company of others without this task hanging over me.

3. Ask others for help:

Attempting to do all of the Christmas preparations on your own can be a recipe for martyrdom and resentment, especially if you’re providing meals for people. You won’t get brownie points for feeling put upon!

For some reason, our ADHD brains think it is necessary to do everything ourselves, even if we nearly collapse with the effort. Delegating can help you by reaching out to others to see what part of the preparations they would be willing to take on and share. If you ask yourself, “What’s preventing me from asking for help?” you may come up with some interesting answers that could help you move forward.

You can feel calmer and more in control by using straightforward strategies such as these examples to reduce the overwhelm that comes from having so much to do in a short time.

Simplify – reduce the sheer number of Christmas things to do.

Do what you can in advance – by doing things in advance, you clear your path for a more effortless and enjoyable time on the day itself.

Ask for help – many hands make light work, and are you aware that people love to help?

Why not pick just one thing you will do differently this year to make Christmas less stressful and more enjoyable? After all, if you end up having a good time, it’s much more likely that others will too.