What I say to myself when I feel emotionally flat
When everything feels flat and you can’t find your spark ✨
Today I woke up feeling blah. Do you know the feeling?
Too awake to rest, too deflated to take action.
Low energy, dragging my feet, and kind of bored… with myself. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my creative juices going.
In moments like these, it feels like someone slowly and quitely half-opened a door, welcoming all sorts of negative thoughts. They creep in like tiny bugs, crawling across the walls of my mind.
“You have nothing to say to the world.”
“You don’t have what it takes.”
“Others have already done this 1000 times better.”
“What value do you bring? What credentials do you have?”
These thoughts nail down that flatness, pulling my energy down even more. And if I’m not careful, they’re the perfect recipe for a day ruined.
Luckily, I now can spot these whispers before they get too loud. Then comes the harder part: getting out of the rut.
Here’s what helps me.
1. Avoid the trap of overconsumption
Looking for inspiration can quickly turn into an endless rabbit hole. Sometimes a spark strikes, and that’s great. But if I don’t feel the urge to create again soon, I know I’m stuck in consumption mode and I’ll feel even flatter afterward.
When I catch myself there, I remind myself: “It looks like you’re stuck in consumption mode. Time to try something different.”
2. Try a different script
I put on my Observer hat, and distance myself from the scolding narrative. Then, I swap the harsh thoughts for gentler ones:
“Nothing’s wrong. You’re not broken. You’re just in low-power mode.”
“You’re still you. Even without the spark. It’ll come back.”
“You’ve felt this before. It passed.”
“What’s one small thing you can do right now?”
The key here is to make yourself remember that feelings are temporary. This too shall pass.
3. Step into action
Perhaps the most powerful one: See if you can take action. Anything works.
Doing your bed, tidying up the room, putting the laundry away.
Take a quick walk.
Doodle.
Write a stream of consciousness.
Make something imperfect.
Brainstorm with your favorite AI tool. This is my favorite one to get unstuck. Something interesting is always bound to pop up.
Action is often the antidote. One tiny step, and suddenly I don’t recognize myself from five minutes ago. Every time I move, even a little, I’m building momentum and proving to myself that I can shift my state. That’s how self-trust grows.
And on the days when none of this works, what if flatness was okay?
What if it was a permission slip to take the day slow, curl up with a cup of tea, and let myself be flat?
As long as we don’t read too much into it, recognize its temporality and don’t base any important decisions on it, flatness might just be the pause that allows our next spark to emerge ✨.
I’d love to hear your take. What do you tell yourself when you feel emotionally flat?
❤️❤️❤️❤️ we need more of you
A very nice post, Ilham.
We all have those moments or even days when everything seems flat. Who knows why they happen, but they do...
I know how unproductive and frustrating times like that are, and then they compound themselves by making us feel like we are wasting time, accomplishing nothing, and we feel even worse 😐
One solution I have found for such times is to keep a list of chores that aren't urgent, but are quite big - it may be painting the shed, or sorting through old clothes, or even going into town to buy something up that needs picking up... The sort of things that don't require much thinking, but need to be done, at some time...
When I then have one of 'those moments' and it feels like it's going to win, I then go to my list and commit to doing one of those big chores.
The good thing is that it removes the feeling of wasting time because you are still doing something necessary! Ironically, the chore is often something you don't want to do (and keep putting off) when you are feeling good and creative, because you think that you can make better use of your time, doing something creative! 🙂
The best thing of all is that you know once you have completed the chore, it's a job well done and worthwhile. One then feels a lot better and even mentally shifted.