The first thing what I did to start my journey of recovery:
In my last post, I had shared my story of suffering from depression and anxiety for a long time. I felt stuck at my cooperate job in London, which I had for seven years. My marriage was falling apart and I was constantly feeling sad.
All I wanted was to become happy again. I wanted to be able to function at work. From deep inside, I wanted to feel loved again and to be able to give love”. I tried to find meaning in my work and life, and I wanted to find hope again.
I tried almost everything to get out of this sad state, like traditional therapy, changing my diet, exercising, and overall changing my lifestyle. Mostly what I did was trying to make changes on the outside.
Until a friend of mine recommended me the book “the untethered soul” by Michael A. Singer. Reading that book was the first step in changing my life.
I realised that thoughts aren’t facts!
The negative voice in my head was not me. It was just a voice—and I could decide whether or not to listen to it. I could even try to change it.
So I made a decision: to become aware of my thoughts. The more I observed them, the more I realised—thoughts aren’t facts.
It was still hard not to get caught up in the emotions connected to those thoughts. Since most of my thoughts were negative, I often felt overwhelmed by negative emotions. But even in the middle of that, I knew that awareness was the first step out of misery. I understood this mentally—I just had to find a way to actually apply it.
Over time, I managed to shift my thinking. The amazing thing? When I started changing my thoughts and inner world, my outer world began to improve too.
For example, I used to believe my life was meaningless and had no purpose. But once I recognised that this was just a thought—not a fact—I began creating meaning. I started seeing value in my work. I realised I could support people in my office who were silently struggling with depression or mental health challenges.
I could sleep better, felt less sad and depressed, and started to have more hope for the future.
Here are some small but powerful changes you can make to help create a more meaningful life:
- Become aware of your thoughts. Write them down to observe patterns and triggers.
- Realise they are not facts. Just because a thought arises doesn’t mean it’s true.
- Try to shift your thoughts to more positive ones. With practice, this gets easier.
- Challenge negative thoughts. For example, if you think “I’m not good enough,” ask yourself: “Is this true?” Then reframe it into something positive, like “I am good enough.”
- Focus on others. Helping someone else can lift you out of your own struggles and give your life meaning.
If you have any questions after reading this blog, or if you would like to work together on starting changing your life to a more meaningful life: book a free Happiness Talk Session with me here .
