Low motivation is one of the hallmark symptoms of depression and anxiety, which is pretty unfortunate to say the least.

It’s strange how paradoxical depression and anxiety are:  You feel low, have low energy, feel pessimistic, hopeless, sad, etc., but those feelings combined with inaction only beget more of the same state of being you don’t actually want!  

In the past, I’ve tended to let thoughts and emotions swirl around in a negative cyclone in my head, tearing up my perfectly good potential to feel and be happy.  

When I was in that state, I felt paralyzed, drained of energy, sad, lethargic, hopeless, and extremely anxious – often to the point of full-blown panic episodes. 

I’d sink deeper and deeper into very scary and dark places.

My mind would run a complete muck, and it operated on Murphy’s law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. I was a catastrophizer, and I felt completely powerless to stop the cycle of emotional torture because its intensity was off the charts. 

For the most part, I had come to believe my mental illnesses were permanent and beyond my control. 

Anyone who experiences depression or anxiety will tell you:  It’s a beast on steroids. Whether mild or severe, it’s tough.  

 Depression may be the reason why you may lay around and not actually get out of your pajamas all day long on a Saturday, play games on your phone for hours, not take showers,  or let messes pile up from room to room. 

Avoidance and procrastination on simple things can take up most of your free time instead of action because you just don’t have the energy or attitude to do much of anything.

Instead of being productive by creating and working on goals or making a serious effort to seek help, you let all sorts of feelings you don’t want to experience and the reality you’re unhappy with to continue to reign as king and queen in your life.

That’s such a bizarre paradox. 

You recognize that you don’t feel good, but you stay stuck in a state of “do nothing,” you catastrophize, and you predict all sorts of bleak “what if” scenarios.

The anxious and depressed mind is full of trickery! You start to believe that the negative thoughts about yourself, your surroundings, and your future are real. But they’re not. 

It’s your actions (or inactions), your decisions, and what you do that are real. Your subsequent feelings and thoughts flow from how you move.

So what’s the driving force behind a person’s decision to stop the cycle of depression and anxiety and truly take steps to heal? The law of inertia dictates that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion. 

So what’s the force that causes the motionless person to move?

I believe that the driving force is faith. When you understand faith and learn to practice it in your daily life, you begin to muster the energy to act, to do, to move, and become an active participant in the creation of your own happiness and success.  

Even if it’s just mustard seed faith, it’s powerful.  

When you learn to have faith in yourself, you empower yourself and improve your self-esteem.

But when you have faith that there is a power higher than you, watching over you, wants the best for you, and can heal you in ways that no human being can, then that opens the door for miracles.

Faith is the match that lights the fire for change, and it’s what allows God to crack His knuckles and start doing some serious handiwork in your life.

Sometimes all you need to grow a little faith is witnessing someone else’s strong faith. I’ve known people who, by all accounts, should have been curled up in a ball for months with the things they were going through.  Yet they smiled.  Yet they carried on and behaved like everything was ok.

I didn’t understand it, but I knew one thing: 

I wanted their faith and optimism.

No matter what mental health issue you have, I believe faith is the foundation for getting better. Faith is an energizing force that, in itself, is healing. It’s what ultimately helped me to overcome 5 years of chronic insomnia.

So what is it exactly? And what does it look like?  

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen.” This is so crucial.  It’s impossible to have faith when you’re hopeless. 

If you can just imagine or hold a glimmer of a thought that what you want for your life can actually happen, you’ve got the faith ball rolling.

Do you want to meet the love of your life and have kids?  Do you want to feel the joy of social connection?  Do you want to feel fulfilled in your career and with your finances? Do you want to feel free from the heaviness of trauma and loss? Do you want to truly be happy?

Take the first 5 minutes of your morning and imagine it. Hope for it and consider the possibility that you can have it. That’s the first step.

 But faith requires more.   James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” In other words, if you never do anything to demonstrate your faith, if your faith doesn’t become conscious, constructive action, what you hope for will never have the chance to manifest. 

God is only moved to act on your behalf because of your demonstrated faith. Some people go to counseling and don’t get much out of it because they have little faith.  They don’t understand that they have to do something.

The therapist isn’t going to unscrew the top of your head and fix your brain.  And they definitely can’t open a magic door on your chest and fix your heart. 

You have to have faith that their expertise and suggestions will work if you take action and diligently practice them.

The concept of faith is illustrated all over the Bible, and when I put it into practice for myself, humbled myself before God, and truly committed myself to living faithfully, I saw changes in my life that I didn’t think were possible. 

When I did everything I could do, when I put my absolute best foot forward, I saw the fruits of my faith.

And I’m faithful that I will continue to progress in amazing ways.

I challenge you to find one way to exercise some faith today.  All you need is a little mustard seed.  Humble yourself and go to God.  Ask Him to guide you and restore you.  Then do just one thing as an act of faith:

• Wash and fold your clothes
• Sweep or vacuum
• Make your bed
• Cook a new healthy dish
• Go for a short walk
• Journal and pray
• Clean or organize one part of your living space
• Take 5 deep breaths
• Buy some flowers
• Read Hebrews 11 in its entirety
• Download the Calm app and do a guided meditation

There are so many small things you can do to activate your faith and motivate yourself. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something to get the ball rolling. 

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step…

For more insight on creating daily habits to set yourself up for emotional success, I strongly recommend reading Activating Happiness: A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression, or Just Feeling Stuck by Rachel Hershenberg, Ph.D.

Remember, nothing is too hard for God. But He only moves when your faith moves.

Let me know your thoughts below in the comments!

Sincerely,

Alexia