47 Good Ways How To Feel Alive And Happy Again

Too often, we live through our lives without really engaging with it. We go through life each day without feeling alive and our happiness are often affected by our external results.

Every morning we wake up, brush our teeth, eat breakfast, get to work, lost the sense of time in our work, back to our home, do our things, and prepare to sleep. And then the next day, we repeat the cycle and do the same thing over again.

Do You Truly Live?

It seems like we have lost the engagement with life that we once had when we are young.

I bet when you’re in your teenage years, your life is full of excitement and joy. You’re happy because every day, you’re enjoying life.

And you have high hopes and dreams for who you want to be after your graduation.

But unfortunately, things changed. After you start your career and step into the adult world, you started to buy into the ideas that life isn’t as interesting as it should be.

You started to feel dejected, lost direction, and find that life is boring and can be difficult at times.

What Happened?

We get used to our lives. Living every day the same, day in and day out, without really thinking about how we truly want to live. And we don’t plan or think about if this is the life that we intend to have.

This is what is happening to you right now, don’t worry, you can still make a change. You can still make your life interesting and exciting.

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do, the key is where you’re heading.

You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.

C.S. Lewis

Hence, choose to start right now, do what you can, feel alive, and make your life worth living right now.

And here are the 47 ways how to feel alive and happy again…

1. Set Goals

You need to have a goal if you want to feel alive again. No matter whether it is a financial goal or a vacation goal, you need to have a target in order to feel engage with life again.

I have seen too many people living lives without knowing what they want or where they should be heading. They lost the direction in lives and live like a walking zombie.

Your goal will become your purpose in life. If you are living without a goal, it simply means that you are living your life without a purpose. And if you have no purpose in life, there’s no way you will feel alive.

I strongly recommend you take my course: Goal Setting Formula. You will learn how to find out what you want to achieve, take charge of your life, and achieve real success through setting empowering goals.

2. Learn a New Skill

It is either you grow or you regress. Bring something new into your life by learning a new skill. Do you want to learn to speak Korean, Chinese, or French? How about learning how to play the piano? Or maybe you want to learn how to cook?

One of the best ways to make your life interesting is through learning and growing. Look at babies and toddlers. They’re constantly learning. And they are happy with their progress.

Life will be interesting when you are constantly progressing forward, learning, improving, and growing yourself.

3. Exercise

Exercise regularly. If you intend to live until age 90 to see your grandkids getting married, you need to have a healthy body and you need to exercise regularly.

You will feel the energy when you exercise and your body will release endorphins that will relieve your stress and make you feel more alive.

Your human bodies are designed to move. If your work requires you to sit and work for long hours, make sure you take regular breaks.

And make it a habit to exercise and move your body every day.

4. Watch Your Favorite Movies

I’m not asking you to soak yourself with movies the whole day, once a week, watch a movie that you like to feel engage with yourself.

Or whenever you’re bored or find that life has no meaning, watch an interesting and inspiring movie, and then learn the lesson.

Understand that you are the director and also the main actor of your own story. Every day, you are creating and living your life like what you watch on movie.

So, how do you want to live? Do you want to live a boring life? Or do you want to make your life interesting and joyful?

5. Read a Book

When was the last time you pick up a book and read it? If your answer is during your school day, you don’t have a life. Extraordinary people read a lot because they know that reading is like exercising your body to your mind.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

Eleanor Roosevelt

When you read, you are learning from others. The more you read, the more you know. The more you learn, the more places you can go.

Check out my top 10 best success books list.

6. Tell Someone You Love Him or Her

If you have not found your soul mate yet, it is alright, you can do this to anyone you love. Spread the love you want and people will return you the favor.

Tell people how much you appreciate them and love them. When you do this, they will return the favor and love you even more.

7. Appreciate and Say Thank You

Learn to appreciate and say thank you for whatever that comes into your life. When people do you a favor or give you a helping hand, don’t forget to say thank you.

When you appreciate what others have done for you, you will be more willing to help you in the future.

8. Write a Gratitude List

If you want to feel alive, you need to appreciate and be thankful for everything that you have in your life. Your love, your parents, your house, your dog, your car, your computer, your phone, etc.

Every morning or every night before you sleep, write your gratitude list. Make it a habit to be grateful for everything you have in life.

The more you appreciate and grateful for the things you have, the more you will have them.

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

Oprah Winfrey

Read: 13 Things I’ve Learned Writing 1,024 Gratitude Lists

9. Make a New Friend

Get to know someone and make a new friend at least once a month. If you’re an extrovert, this should be no problem for you. And if you’re an introvert, you need to do this.

As human beings, we need to have a sense of connection to feel alive. So, expand your network and get to know someone and make friend with him/her.

Life is should be interesting and full of choices. When you get to know someone new, you expand your comfort zone by learning about him/her.

10. Learn to Sing a Song

Do you sing? If you hate singing or you feel that you can’t sing, great, it is time for you to choose a song and really learn how to sing it.

It is alright if you can’t sing it well, you’re not taking part in any singing competition. The point is to make your life lively by singing songs that you love.

By the way, choose a song that will uplift you.

11. Get Massage, Spa or Meditate

Every time when I traveled to a country such as Thailand, I will definitely drop by to get a massage. I’m not saying that you should get a massage in Thailand or only do it when you go there. I’m saying you should do it often, like once a month.

You need to treat yourself and your body well. If you don’t prefer a massage, go for a spa. It is a relaxing activity that you and your body deserve.

One more thing, do you meditate? There are plenty of benefits of meditation. It makes you feel calm, relaxed, more productive, and allows you to connect with your inner self.

If you want to learn how to meditate the correct way, I suggest you watch this video now.

12. Catch the Sunrise

You should do this regularly. If possible, do it every day. It is alright if the view is not as scenic if you are living in the city. Watching the sunrise and enjoying the world wakes up make you feel refresh and it is a great way to start your day.

Read: 7 Best Morning Routine to Kick-Start a Great Day

13. Get a Mentor

When you know what you want to accomplish in your life, seek out those people who had done so and get at least one of them to be your mentor. Let them guide you so that you can get to your destination faster.

14. Cook a Meal

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a great chef. As long as you put in the effort and cook with ‘heart’, it will be a great meal. There are tons of recipes for you to follow through on the internet.

15. Try Out a New Restaurant

You should try out something new regularly to get a feel about life. The easiest place to start is to choose to eat in a new restaurant that you have never tried before. Try out a new restaurant, soak yourself in a new environment, and eat a new dish to make your life fresh.

16. Play a Game

I believe that everyone who is able to read this played some games before. Be it from your computer, or PlayStation, or from your phone. If you have never played any game before, you should try it. Just don’t overspend your time playing games.

17. Create a Saving Jar

It is wise to save at least 10% of your income for future or investment use. When you know that you have more, you tend to feel more comfortable, have better confidence.

We all want to live a life without worrying about money. Hence, it is our goal to pursue financial success in life. And everyone can do this if they want to.

I strongly suggest you get this book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Read it, apply the principles and techniques shared in the book. And trust me, you will start to see changes in your life.

18. Hangout with Good Friends

I know you’re busy, but at least once or twice a month, you should hang out with friends who will encourage and support you. If you check out Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you will see that the sense of belonging is the third need. So get connected to feel alive.

19. Attend a Seminar or Workshop

Try to commit to attending a seminar or a workshop that will improve your skills and knowledge at least once a year. You will get to expand your network and learn something new there.

You are where you are because of what you know. And if your life is not working out, it is time to learn something new.

The best investment you can make it to invest in yourself. This is why I read 30 minutes to an hour every day. And on average, I read about 2-3 books a month.

The more you invest in yourself, the higher your confidence and the more you can achieve.

20. Adopt a New Positive Habit

You are your habits. Your life is a result of what you do on a daily basis. Hence, unless you change what you do every day, you’re not going to change your life.

This is why developing the right habits is important. When you have bad habits, they will lead you to living in mediocrity and even destroy your life.

However, if you adopt just one positive habits once every 3 months, you will have 4 new habits in a year. Can you imagine how your life will change if you do this for 3 years?

Learn to get rid of bad habits and develop good ones. You can learn how to do this from James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

21. Smile and Feel Happy for No Reason

You don’t need a reason to smile or to feel happy. Make it your mantra to smile often and feel the happiness within.

Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.

Focus on the positive. Remember, happiness is a choice. You can choose to make a big grin and think about all the good things or you can choose to be miserable by soaking yourself in the negative.

Whatever you do, you create your own happiness. Check out this guide on how to stay happy from Live a Life You Love.

22. Spend Time in Solitude

Once in a while, you need to spend time in solitude and just be by yourself. Listen to your inner voice and get to know yourself better. Like what Lao Tzu said, “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”

23. Learn to Forgive

This is another great advice to move on and live an engaged life. You can never move forward if you hold grudges. It is when you forgive and let go, you will be able to free yourself and get to higher ground. So, stop holding grudges for whatever that has passed.

24. Follow Your Passion

This is a powerful one. If you want to feel alive, follow your passion, and do what you love. Can you imagine spending time each day working on things that you hate? Is that the kind of life you want to live?

Find your passion, or better yet, develop the passion for what you do. Yes, passion is like relationship, you can develop it.

Do you know that the average people spend one third of their lives working? And if you are working on something that you don’t like, you’re wasting your life.

Besides, your passion will boost your performance. As what Steve Jobs famously said…

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Steve Jobs

Read: 7 Clear Signs That You Have Discovered Your Passion in Life

25. Use a New Route

When time allows, try to get to work or get back to your house using a different or a new route. Walk a new path, try a route you seldom use, and see new things to refresh your mind. Inject newness into your life and expand your comfort zone.

26. Conquer Your Fear

What are you afraid of? Face the fear and learn to be unstoppable. If you fear public speaking, find a way to conquer it and face it. This is because if you conquered what you fear, you will be able to achieve much more. You know that if you can overcome your fear, then nothing can stop you from achieving greatness in life.

27. Do Something New

You just need to be creative in this. Do something that new that you have never tried before. If you have never visited the museum before, perhaps it is time to do so. If you have never tried out go-kart before, you should arrange a date for it.

Doing something new will create new neural patterns in your brain, which will make you feel “fresh” and more engage with the activities. Play basketball if you never play it before. Climb a hill, do flying-fox, cycle in the woods, attend a concert, etc.

28. Start Everyday Great

Choose to wake up early, spend some time to exercise, review your goals, plan your day, and have a good breakfast to start your day. This will make you feel better and increase your energy to tackle the day.

Read: Morning Motivation: How to Prepare Yourself to Jumpstart Your Day

29. Pray and Be at Peace

No matter what your religion or beliefs, pray. You can call it the higher power, the universe, god, etc., it doesn’t matter. What is more important is you pray with your full heart and engage with your spirituality.

30. Practice Stargazing

Never tried this before? Great, this is your chance to do it. This is the activity where you enjoy watching the sky, looking at stars and losing yourself in the vast universe. It is romantic and in the same time, able to practice your imagination and creative skills.

31. Lose Yourself in the City

Sometimes you should just slow down and just wander around the city. Stop and look at where the people are going. You can do this aimlessly and just let your intuition bring you where you want to go.

32. Do Charity as a Volunteer

What goes around comes around. So make it a habit and consistently volunteer yourself to do good to the society and the world. Visit the orphanage, the old folk homes, or volunteer to clean up the city by joining a charity organization.

33. Donation

How often do you donate? When you donate, there will be changes in you. When you donate, you know you have more than enough to help, and you know that you have done something good that will impact the world. Hence, you will feel more confident and reinforce the abundance mindset in yourself.

34. Create a Vision Board

This is a great way to feel alive and connected with what you want in life. Cut out magazines, papers or simply print out the things that you want to have in life and create a vision board about it.

Here’s an example of a vision board:

Make your life exciting by creating a vision for the future you desire. Learn to create a vision board here.

35. Clean Up and Declutter

When there are just too many things around you, you will feel tense and can’t really focus your thinking. This is why is it is always a wise move to clean up things, clear up the clutter, and make your environment encouraging.

36. Get Better Grooming

How do you feel when you dress properly and better groom yourself? Your mood will be different and you feel more confident. So take care of your outlook because your outlook will affect your self-image. Get a haircut if needed. Buy yourself a new and smart suit.

37. Write Down 100 Things You Want to Be, Do, and Have

What do you want to be, do, and have? Get yourself your favorite beverage and enjoy writing down 100 goals in your life.

It may be easy in the beginning, but as you go deeper, the more challenging it will be. When you reach 100, you will feel extremely fulfilled. Of course, don’t stop there and you can go even further.

More importantly, start working on your goals. See yourself achieving your goals and making your dream life a reality.

Read: Why Goal Setting Is Important? Read Before It Is Too Late For You

38. Break the Rules

If you are too well behaved, it will be a little difficult to create a breakthrough in everything you do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to break the law, but I’m suggesting you break the rules of how you do things.

If it is not for Benjamin Graham Bell to break conventional thinking, the telephone will not be invented today.

If the Wright Brothers didn’t break the rule and think that human can fly, there won’t be airplanes and travel will be a trouble.

Therefore, have the courage to break the rule and do something different. That’s how successful people create extraordinary results in life. They do it differently.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

Tony Robbins

39. Do Something Out of the Norm

When I suggest doing something crazy, I’m suggesting that you do something that normal people will not be doing. For example, you can run or dance in the rain; you can paint your house with many different colors, or you can buy an exotic pet that you really love and take care of it. (One of our readers say this is unethical. You can do things differently, but never forget ethics and morals.) Just be fun and make your life engaging.

40. Do Your Hobby

Most people are not feeling alive because they are not engaging and they are not doing things that they love. They do things that they were asked to, such as their work.

Here’s what you can do: Write down at least 5 hobbies and pick 1 of them and do it right away.

Your hobby is an activity that makes you recharge, engage, and happy. Hence, make your hobby something you do daily.

41. Put Yourself First

You don’t always have to think about others. You should take care and put yourself as the priority. Order the food that you love, do the work that you like, listen to songs you want, play the games you craved, and always put yourself first. You are the most important person in your life.

When you take a flight, before the airplane takes off, you are reminded to put on your seat belt before you help others.

If you can’t save yourself, there is no way you can save others. Hence, make yourself the priority and focus on yourself first before you focus on others.

42. Love Your Parents and Spend Time with Your Family

Success starts at home, so does living an engaging life. If you don’t love your parents and your family, how do you expect others to love you? If your parents are still around, put down what has happened in the past and love them with everything you can.

43. Take Responsibility

Stop blaming and stop complaining about the things that are not happening the way you want. You definitely cannot control the direction of the wind, but you can always control your sail to reach your destination.

When you blame and complain, you are giving up your power to control and to change. So, take responsibility from now on. When you take responsibility for what happened, you are in charge and able to change it.

Here’s a good read: 10 Ways How To Take Responsibility For Your Life To Be Successful

44. Watch Your Words

Whatever comes out of your mouth can hurt you or help you. Stop using abusive words and think before you speak. You may have hurt someone before, apologize to them and learn to speak with grace.

Your words can be a double edge sword. So speak wisely and if you don’t have any good thing to say, don’t say anything.

Like what Plato has to say, “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools speak because they have to say something.”

45. Take Care of Your Health

When possible, take supplements. Eat more vegetables and fruits. Exercise regularly and stay healthy. Whatever you put into your stomach, you will feel it with your body.

If you eat junk food, your body will soon associate with junk. If you eat healthily, you will feel more energetic and more vibrant. Therefore, treat your body like a sacred temple. Only take in healthy and nutritious foods.

46. Stop Pleasing Everyone

There is a saying, “I don’t know what the secret to success is, but the secret to failure is to please everybody.” You can’t be everything to everyone.

If Thomas Edison were to please everyone, he would never have invented the light bulb. If Michael Jordan did not believe in himself and please everyone instead, he would never be the basketball superstar.

47. Be Yourself

You don’t have to pretend or act like other people wanted you to be. Just be yourself. Be authentic and people will value you for who you are. Furthermore, you will be able to live a truly engaged life if you do so.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

Lao Tzu

Yes, you don’t have to compare yourself with others. You just need to be yourself.

Can you imagine what will happen if birds compare themselves with one another? No birds will want to sing and chirp, and most don’t even want to fly because of low self-esteem.

Be yourself, my friend.

48. Experience Nature (Bonus)

We are human beings and we cannot stay in the office for 24 hours. If you do that, you will feel trap and stress. Go get close to nature. At least once a week, expose yourself to nature. If possible, do it every day. Take a walk in the wood, jog in the garden, walk by the beach, etc.

49. Be Part of Something Big (Bonus)

Why do people prefer to work in well-known companies such as Nike, Microsoft, or Google? If you were given a choice to work for Google or ABC Search Engine, which one would you opt for? You’ll choose Google, but why?

The reason is that people like to be a part of something big. People love to be around with successful leaders who have great vision and great dreams.

So be part of something big. Dream big, go bigger, and have big vision. Know exactly what you want to accomplish in your life and go for it.

Read: 7 Ways How to Think Big to Achieve Big Success in Life

50. Define Your Own Success (Bonus)

If you want to feel alive and make your life interesting, you have to define your own success. Never let someone decide the meaning of success for you. Understand what has to happen in order for you to feel successful.

Most people don’t define their success, and this is why they are always living in mediocrity and fail to unleash their inner potential. They peg their success on others.

I suggest you read this article below to understand the real definition of success:

How Do You Define Success And The Real Meaning Behind (Must Read)

Conclusion

There are many ways how you can feel alive and be happy again. I shared 50 of them here. Some may resonate with you and some may not.

You don’t have to follow strictly to all the tips above. Pick what works for you and practice what makes you feel the most engaging.

Remember, life is supposed to be fun and exciting. And you can choose how you want to live your own life. The good news is that if you are not happy with your life right now, you can change it.

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

Jim Rohn

Which of the tips above you like the most?