Are you still unsure if you’re truly unhappy or just vaguely dissatisfied? Maybe you really are just in a rut and will snap out of it. But maybe not. Here are five more signs it might be genuine unhappiness.
- You feel helpless. You’d like to change your life but don’t feel that you can. Something else is in control. You’re not sure what it is -fate, circumstances, God, whatever -but it’s not you. Nothing you do will make a difference. Life will never change, so why bother? This symptom is more common than you might think; lots of people experience it.
- You have hard-to-define and undiagnosable physical ailments. This is a common sign of unhappiness, especially in people who seem to have “it all” (whatever that is). The ailments can include fatigue, stomach upset, weight gain or loss, insomnia, and strange pains. You’ve been to the doctor, but nothing is physically wrong. Guess what? It’s not your body; it’s your mind trying to get your attention.
- You feel like you and your life don’t matter. The world is much bigger than you and your “little” problems. There are far more important things that need to be worried about than your life. You don’t matter, either up close or in the abstract. This can be a symptom of both unhappiness and depression, and either way, it’s wrong. Of course, you matter!
- You try to be perfect. Some people try to cope with unhappiness through perfectionism. Are you always trying to be perfect and trying to make everything else perfect, no matter how big or small it is? Excess perfectionism is a sign that your mind doesn’t want to deal with something. It’s time to have a heart-to-heart with yourself.
- You numb yourself with distractions. This is an age-old negative coping mechanism for chronic unhappiness. Distractions that can be used to fill the void include food, sex, drugs, alcohol, exercise, TV, or plain old busyness. These things don’t make you happy, they just numb you, so you don’t feel the pain.
The bottom line: you don’t have to put up with being unsatisfied with your life. Even if it truly is just a lack of complete satisfaction rather than overall unhappiness, why accept it? You don’t have to. You have the power to take control of your life and make it exactly what you want. Don’t waste your life. Take charge of it today!
