If You Can't Remember When You Were Last Happy, Make These 12 Changes In Your Life

Do you want to feel happy again?

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Happiness can be elusive—for some more than others. If you haven’t been happy at all lately, it is a sign that something in your life needs to change. In fact, it’s likely that you would benefit from making several changes. Changes such as the following.

1. Spend more time with your friends and family.

A smiling woman with short dark hair hugs a woman with long red hair, both enjoying the embrace. A man in a blue shirt stands in the doorway behind them, watching with a warm smile. The setting appears to be a home entryway with wooden doorframes.

Relationships are an important part of maintaining happiness. The brain responds to socialization with bursts of endorphins and oxytocin that help boost and maintain a good mood. However, this socialization needs to be face-to-face if possible. Digital socialization doesn’t provide the same benefit.

2. Take care of yourself by prioritizing self-care.

A person with eyes closed relaxes in a bubble bath, surrounded by sunlight streaming through white blinds. There is a green plant in a white pot next to the bathtub, creating a serene and peaceful atmosphere.

Self-care is a necessary activity to help reduce the stress on your brain and body. Stress abounds in our busy world. It will eat you up if you don’t manage it. If you’re a busy person, you may need to pencil self-care into your schedule. Treat it as important as your most important responsibilities, because it is if you want to stay happy and healthy.

3. Take time to exercise and stay active.

A man in a blue tank top and white shorts, wearing sunglasses and earphones, looks back while running on a sandy beach under a clear sky. The beach has scattered rocks, footprints, and cliffs in the background.

Exercise and activity keep your body in good working order, which helps keep your mind healthy. Numerous studies have linked good physical health to good mental health. Sedentary lifestyles are common nowadays, but if you want to find your happiness, you have to get up and move.

4. Learn to practice mindfulness and gratitude.

A man with a beard wearing a denim shirt and a backpack stands outdoors near the sea, stretching with his hands behind his head and eyes closed, appearing relaxed and content. The background features a cloudy sky and distant water.

Mindfulness and gratitude are important because they help minimize anxiety. To be mindful is to be now, in the present moment. You’re not lamenting your past and you’re not worrying about the future. Gratitude can help you be mindful and keep your mind on the positives in your life instead of the negatives.

5. Declutter and clean up your space.

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Clutter causes more stress than you may realize. When you look around, your mind subconsciously processes all the different things that it perceives. If you live or work in a cluttered space, your brain never really has a chance to stop interpreting. That causes anxiety and uses up mental energy without you being aware of it.

6. Take some time to learn something new.

A young woman with long brown hair sits cross-legged on a bed covered with a plaid blanket, playing an acoustic guitar. She wears a yellow hoodie and blue jeans. The room has gray walls, a large plant, and a laptop open on a desk in the foreground.

Learning provides numerous mental health benefits in that it provides the feel-good reward chemicals for learning and it exercises your brain. Engaging in learning helps you build direct and indirect skills in addition to the exercise it gives you. Plus, learning can be a good activity for you to relax with.

7. Disconnect from social media.

A person seated at a table, holding a smartphone in one hand and a blue mug in the other. The focus is on the hand holding the phone, while the person and the background are blurred. The scene appears to be indoors.

Social media is engineered to take advantage of the addiction centers of your brain. Furthermore, social media thrives on anger and controversy because anger and controversy keep people clicking. It’s so bad that it even has its own nickname—doomscrolling. Reduce your time on social media and stop doomscrolling.

8. Set goals for your life.

A person with long brown hair, dressed in a light-colored shirt, is lying on a bed while writing in a notebook with a black pen. The bed has grayish bedding and an open book lies next to them. The scene appears calm and focused.

Goals help boost your mood because you feel good when you accomplish one. It’s really that simple. Set different goals aimed at different lengths of time. You want a nice mix of short, medium, and long-term goals to aim for. Goal-setting not only boosts your moods, but it also improves your life.

9. Help others to boost fulfillment and happiness.

A woman wearing a brown coat and a backpack is bending down to offer change to a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk. The man is bundled in a red hoodie and a brown jacket, holding a cup. A handwritten sign beside him reads, "ONCE I WAS LIKE YOU.

Helping others provides many of the same benefits as socialization with some additions. First, it feels good to make a difference. By practicing kindness or volunteering, you can make a direct, positive impact on someone’s life. The second is a sense of purpose—it’s hard to feel good when you don’t feel your existence means anything.

10. Prioritize getting good sleep.

A person with dark hair and beard sleeps peacefully on a bed, lying on their side with a white pillow and blanket. The room has a calm blue hue, creating a serene nighttime atmosphere.

Sleep is the most important part of maintaining a healthy, positive mentality. The brain produces mood-balancing chemicals in the deepest stages of sleep. It is much harder to keep a positive mindset when your brain doesn’t have the opportunity to reach those stages. Improve your sleep hygiene, don’t drink anything before going to bed, and hopefully, you can get better sleep.

11. Find a way to stay positive.

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The world is a hard, difficult place a lot of times. It’s hard to find a way to stay positive that doesn’t feel like an outright lie. Still, try to find the silver lining in situations where it may exist. And if you can’t be positive about a situation, just try not to be negative. That’s all you can hope for sometimes.

12. Do seek professional help.

A person sits on a couch, blurred in the background, while another person's hands are in focus in the foreground, holding a notepad and pencil, possibly taking notes during a session, likely in a therapy or counseling setting.

You may need professional help if you haven’t felt happy for a long time. A lack of happiness or positive emotions points to depression which isn’t always easy to remedy by yourself. Sometimes a person needs therapy to work through whatever is making them unhappy or they may need to consider medication with the help of a doctor.