Bored Panda spoke with Dr. Lise Deguire, a clinical psychologist who provides counseling and therapy services for individuals, couples and families in and around Pennington, NJ. Lise is also the author of her award-winning memoir “Flashback Girl: Lessons on Resilience From a Burn Survivor.” She happily shared some very important and useful insights on optimism and how to keep your head up when it feels like the last thing you want and are able to do.

“Optimism is a mental mindset that strongly contributes to psychological resilience,” Lise said. She explained further: “We need to be able to imagine positive outcomes to problems in order to be motivated to work on our issues. That does not mean we have to be positive 100% of the time (which is impossible to do anyway). But it is important to be able to conceive positive outcomes instead of dwelling solely on negative outcomes.”

Lise explained that “many of us have a bad habit of thinking "What if this happens?" and the "what if" is almost always a hypothetical catastrophe.” However, “the more we ask "what if" a  bad thing occurs, the worse our mood and outlook become.”

The clinical psychologist said that “a good trick, when you find yourself imagining the worst scenario, is to force yourself to also imagine the best possible scenario. So, for example, you might think, ‘What if I lose my job and go bankrupt?’ If you think this, then try asking the opposite. ‘What if I do great at my job, get promoted, become the CEO and a multi-millionaire?’”

Lisa said that neither the worst case or the best-case scenario are likely to happen. “But it helps your brain balance out the tendency to focus solely on the negative.”

Lise also confirmed that the news is often depressing and upsetting, and there isn't much we can do about it. “Many people benefit from limiting the amount of TV news they watch, and reading their news instead. Sometimes it's a good idea to take a news break altogether,” she concluded.

Previously, Bored Panda also spoke with Sarah Vero from 'Action for Happiness,' who went into detail about finding real happiness and how to move forward after the exhausting year that we've had. According to her, contrary to what most of us believe, living a life of happiness is not necessarily about a state of permanent and eternal happiness. This is not simply possible.

"Finding real happiness isn't about always seeking a temporary state of feeling good. A lot of what actually makes us happy relates to duty and purpose," she said. Sarah believes that 10 main things to happier living are as follows: “giving, relating, exercising, awareness, trying out, direction, resilience, emotions, acceptance, and meaning.”

Moreover, the creator of ‘Action For Happiness’ believes that “we are likely to be happier if our lives have direction, meaning and purpose and if we are part of something bigger than ourselves." In that sense, we should also think of ways to set ourselves on a more fulfilling path of life by helping others, finding a goal for ourselves, and not just wandering aimlessly.

"Giving or doing things for others is another example. Relating is about being connected to other people and being part of a community. Duty and purpose don't have to be serious things, being part of a cause that you care about or taking part in charity fundraising, all these things make us happy and fulfilled. We should see these things as acts of service that help us to be happy and help other people at the same time. Awareness is about appreciating each moment no matter what we are doing at the time."

If you have feelings of isolation, burnout, and exhaustion and feel overwhelmed by them, know that you’re not alone. With a pandemic changing our lives beyond recognition, many of us struggle between juggling our responsibilities and slowly returning to the life we knew as normal.

Sarah gave us some tips on how to deal with such emotions, and how to recover our joy in life. First of all, she highlighted the fact that it's perfectly "ok not to be ok," since it's normal to feel isolated and burned out "during a traumatic experience like a pandemic."

The key is not to punish yourself for struggling during these difficult times. Be kind and supportive of yourself, don’t try to make yourself feel better than you really are. Sometimes we become dishonest, hiding our real emotions, with ourselves just like we are with others.

Sarah from ‘Action for Happiness’ suggested: "Don't be down on yourself for struggling, most people are in the same boat. If we admit that we are struggling, we can start to take steps to get better. Don't suffer alone, talk to friends and family, let them know what's going on, and make time for meaningful conversations.”

Most importantly, nobody starts from just becoming happy, you start from taking small and simple steps to support your mental health. It takes time and patience, just like all good things. “Are you getting the basics right? Eat healthy food, get enough sleep, and daily exercise. Take time for yourself, go outside and be in nature, notice the way the seasons are changing at the moment. Plan time in your diary to do something you love like creating art or music," Sarah said.