If you’re in a creative field, or undertaking a creative project, it’s essential that you feel good on most days, as it directly affects the quality of your work. Whether it is heartbreak, a delayed promotion, fight with a family member or job rejections—whatever it is that you are going through now, I hope this helps you to recover fast and start feeling good right away.

Recovery begins by acknowledging the problem you are facing and an iniate feeling of wanting to be healed. Having said that, here are a few ways to go about it:

Handling Rejection

There is no way around rejection. If you’re in creative work, you may have to face it often. If your work is being rejected at one place, the best antidote would be to send out three more applications. But I would suggest not doing it right away. Since we tend to take rejection so personally, the simplest of mistakes may evade our eyes. Give it a few hours, or a day. Reopen the rejection letter, see if you can better your application in any way, and then send it out.

Try Try and Try again until you succeed.

List Qualities You Love About yourself

Do you remember your nursery/ pre-school days, when your teacher would pin a gold star on you for every good deed you did? How did that make you feel? We realise you’re not in nursery anymore, and only you can uplift yourself. So here’s a trick. This may seem silly at first but do it. You’ve got nothing to lose. Take a piece of paper and list out the qualities you love about yourself. In other words your strengths, things you can do with ease. Next, jot down qualities you wish you had. Start taking small steps to develop them. For example, if you wish you could be as amicable as your co-worker, but you suffer from social anxiety, the next time you’re introduced to somebody, try to speak two sentences more than you normally would.

Excellence is not a destination, it is a continuous journey that never ends.     

Brian Tracy

Positive Mood Boards in Your Workspace

This is somewhat like Vision Boards, except you will be putting up printouts of good things said about your work or you, instead of your plans for the future. And when you reread them on one of your ‘I-am-feeling-low’ days, it tends to work like a little pat on your shoulder. You can also put up pictures of places you travelled, images of your closest family member or friend, and anything that makes you feel good.

The more positive energy you put out, the more positivity you will attract.

Express Gratitude

As soon as you wake up, take two minutes to feel grateful for who you are and for everything you have. There is this one or two-minute window as soon as you wake up where your mind is entirely blank before thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow come rushing to you. Grasp that moment, even before you open your eyes, start feeling thankful for your present, and it can work like a miracle to carry you through the day.

Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.

Zig Ziglar

Energy Builders vs. Energy Drainers

Cut off negative people from your life. Their attitude will rub off on you, and before you know it, you begin to feel exhausted and dreadful. It’s okay to be sympathetic or empathetic to a friend in need, but stop being an agony aunt to somebody who cribs on a regular basis. Have a healthy set of friends who have a positive outlook towards things, and in whose company you always laugh and feel good; people who give you energy rather than drain you off yours.

It is also important to learn to say no . Exercise ruthless prioritisation and focus on energy builders.

Lastly, learn to let go. Don’t stay too focused on the outcome, enjoy the process. Have a wonderful day!