319: in a funk? 5 (annoyingly simple) ways to get out of it

No one is immune to being in a funk – whether you’re in one right now, just coming out of one, or life is great at the moment, we all know what it feels like for things to feel a little drab, ya know?

In this episode, we cover:

• 5 (annoyingly simple) steps to follow to help you get out of a funk

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

No one is immune to being in a life funk. Whether you're in one right now, maybe you're just coming out of one, or life is actually fabulous right now. We all know what it feels like for life to feel a little bit blah. You know what I'm saying? Welcome or welcome back to the Hustle Stanley podcast. I hope you're taking care of yourself. This is your digital classroom for learning how to break up with burnout and build a peacefully productive life. If you're tired of feeling like you're running on E and stretched so thin, grab your notebook and let's get to class. The bell has rung. So let's learn today's lesson together. Here's what you're gonna do to get out of a funk. Like, we're just gonna cut to the chase because we've got a lot to talk about today. Step one, you're gonna let yourself feel the funk. Like let yourself feel your feelings for a second. All right. As people recovering from hustle culture, we are problem solvers, okay? We want to fix things. But when it comes to getting out of a funk, I think it's so important for us to give ourselves some time and space to just wallow a little bit, okay? One of the reasons that funks drag on way longer than they need to is because we fight them. We feel off and then immediately go into fix it mode. We tell ourselves that we shouldn't feel this way. We tell ourselves we don't have time to feel this way. We try to force productivity, we guilt ourselves for not being more grateful or more motivated or more whatever. And all of that internal resistance makes it so much worse. If you're a fellow Gilmore girls fan, you know that episode where Dean and Rory break up and she makes this list of things to do to try and keep her busy so that she isn't thinking about how sad she is. But Lorelai is like, Rory, chill for a sec and let yourself wallow for a little bit. But Rory is like, no, like absolutely not. There are things to be done. Let's go, like, let's be productive. Let's check all of these things off of this crazy list that I made. We all know how that went, right? Rory tried to skip wallowing and go right into fix it mode, and she crashed and burned, and she ended up wallowing anyway. So that's why we're starting with some good old-fashioned wallowing for step one. Give yourself a chunk of predetermined time to be down without fixing anything. This is not open-ended wallowing though, okay? It's predetermined wallowing, a wallowing container, if you will. Okay. So maybe you need 10 minutes or maybe you need a full day. It probably depends on the route of the funk, but figure out how long you want to wallow and wallow without guilt for that set amount of time, okay? Cry, whine, complain, doom scroll, get it all out, girl. Because after this, we're up and atom, okay? Step two to get out of a funk, go do something you love to do. Emphasis on the word go because I don't want you to sit in your living room staring at the same four walls that you've been looking at while you just wallowed. All right. We're going. We're getting up and we're going to do something that we love to do. So I know we love a concrete example. I've got some ideas. Go to the beach, go walk around the bookstore, go get a coffee from your favorite local coffee shop, go to a farmer's market, go to your backyard and lay out with a silly goofy little romance book. Go sit at your best friend's house to yap over a glass of wine or some mocktails. But here's the thing: this thing that you're gonna go do does have a few rules that it needs to follow. Okay. It's not meant to be productive on your to-do list or something that you're doing for somebody else. It's something that you genuinely enjoy doing, something that fills your cup up. So extra credit if it's outside, because let's be honest, there's just some magic about the fresh air, and it just helps us to get out of a funk, right? The whole point of this step is to remind yourself that you are a person with things that bring you joy. A funk has this way of kind of flattening everything and making it hard to remember what you even like or if you even like anything. So that's the point of this one to remind yourself that yes, there are things that you enjoy doing and you're gonna go do one of them. Step three to help you get out of a funk, go move your body. I know you're rolling your eyes at me right now. That's okay. I'm gonna tell you anyway. Go move your body. Move for 30 minutes is a part of Hustle Stanley 5 for a reason. There is so much research that backs how beneficial movement is for our mental health. You don't need me to sit here and spout it off to you, so I won't. But I am gonna sit here and tell you to move your body. Y'all know that, well, if you've been around for a while, I used to be a personal trainer in my 20s. That was my job. And I am so passionate about health and fitness, yes, for the physical aspects, but more so for the mental aspects. I am a generalized anxiety disorder girly, and movement is one of the best ways to help me cope with my anxiety. And listen, when I say move your body, I'm not saying that you need to go do this hardcore, overly intense workout session. You totally can if that's your jam, but that's not the only thing that counts as movement. You can go on a leisurely walk. Again, bonus points if it's outside, but if you have to do it on a walking pad or a treadmill, that's fine. Rebounding, you guys, this is my current movement obsession. It's like jumping on a little trampoline. It is so fun. I've been doing it like every day for 10 minutes and the endorphins that I get, insane. Insane. So do a little bit of rebounding, dancing, following a yoga video on YouTube, walking your dog, going to Pilates, lifting weights, literally whatever you want. When we intentionally move our bodies, we're moving stagnant energy, not like woo-woo energy, but like actual energy in our bodies. Movement, it's kind of like a recalibration for our mental and physical selves, right? Movement, like I just said, it releases endorphins and it helps us process stress hormones and it gets us out of our head and into our body, which is exactly where we need to be when we're stuck in a funk. Because a funk tends to live in our heads, right? It's cyclical thoughts, heaviness, that kind of like foggy feeling. And moving our bodies is one of the fastest ways to interrupt that loop. You don't have to go hard, you just have to go. All right, step number four to help you get out of a funk, get around someone else. Listen, it is no secret that I am an introverted homebody. And even with that being true for me, I still believe that we were fundamentally created to do life with other people, to live in community. When we're in a funk, most of us want to isolate. I know I do. We don't want to reach out because we feel like a burden. Or honestly, most of the time, we don't even have the energy to explain how we're feeling, or we just kind of want to disappear for a little while. Y'all, I get it. One of the things that fixes it. So I want you to reach out to someone. And I am giving you a lot of flexibility with this one because I know not everyone is in the same season of life. So this could look like calling a friend on your drive somewhere. Maybe it looks like texting someone and asking if they want to grab coffee. It could be showing up at a workout class or a church service or a neighborhood thing, just somewhere that puts you around other humans who know you and care about you. It doesn't have to be a deep, vulnerable conversation where you unpack everything that you're feeling. Sometimes it's just being around someone who makes you laugh and reminds you that connection exists and life has good things in it. If you don't feel like talking about it, don't. If you do feel like talking about it, the funk, let someone in, right? Let them sit with you in it. You don't have to have it all figured out before you reach out to somebody. The people who love you want to hear from you, funk and all. I'm so serious about this one, you guys. Community is one of the most underrated tools that we have. And step number five, the final step to help you get out of a funk, do a guided brain dump. I love a brain dump. And this is the step where we actually start to get some clarity on what's going on, because sometimes a funk has a root, and sometimes just naming it takes away a lot of its power. I want you to grab a journal or a piece of paper and I'm gonna give you some questions to work through. You don't have to answer all of them perfectly. Just let yourself write freely and see what comes up. Okay. And if you did not know, for every podcast episode, we actually have a corresponding blog post over on my website, jesscomassi.com/slash blog. And in the show notes for each podcast episode, we actually link the blog post. So if you're not able to like jot these down right now, you can go to the blog post later on and all of them are in there for you. So, question one for this guided brain dump, when did I start feeling this way? So I want you to try to pinpoint it. Was there a specific moment, a certain week or something specific that happened, or did it just kind of creep in gradually? So that's question number one. Question number two, what feels heavy or unresolved in my life right now? And listen, this is so important. Don't filter yourself. Just write down whatever comes up relationships, work stuff, something you've been avoiding, something you're scared of. Get it out of your head and onto the paper. Question number three, is there anything I've been neglecting that I know matters to me? Sleep, movement, time with people that I love, time alone, creativity. What have I been putting last lately? Question number four, what do I actually need right now? Not what do you think you should need, not what would look good, what do you actually need right now? Rest, fun, a hard conversation, a change, permission to slow down. Just write down your honest answer. And then question number five for our guided brain dump. What is one small thing I can do within the next 24 hours to take care of myself? Keep it small, make it realistic so that you can actually do it. Okay. So something that reminds you that you are worth taking care of. You don't have to solve everything in this brain dump. Okay. The point of this brain dump is just to get honest with yourself. So the funk has kind of like less fog to hide out in in your brain, right? A lot of the time when we actually look at what's going on, we get it out of our heads and onto paper. It's more manageable than we think. Okay. You're not stuck. Funks are temporary. They feel permanent when you're in them, but we know better. We know that they're not. That wraps up today's lesson. But what good is learning something if you don't apply it to your life? We are all about taking action and implementation here in the Hustle Stanley classroom. It is time for me to assign your homework for the week so that you can actually create a peacefully productive life. So, this week's homework, what I want you to do before our next episode, all right, y'all ready? Go watch season one, episode 17 of Gilmore Girls and learn the importance of wallowing. I'm just kidding, that's not your homework. However, I did just see an announcement that they're taking Gilmore girls off of Netflix, and I'm gutted. Actually gutted. So maybe you should take this seriously and like go do that because we're not gonna be able to watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I don't know what Fall Me is gonna do about it. But your actual homework is to follow these steps. But here's the catch I want you to schedule them. I don't want you to just say, like, oh yeah, like I'm gonna get to all of these steps and I'm gonna do them over the next week or two. No, I want you to put them on your calendar. Like pull out your planner, pull out your Google Calendar, and get them scheduled. Okay, you don't have to do them all within the same day or all within the same week. Maybe you do it over the next two weeks or whatever, but get the especially if you're in a funk. If you're not in a funk, like you don't need to do this, obviously. But if you are in a funk, I want you to challenge yourself. I know it's hard to challenge ourselves when we're funk, but I want you to challenge yourself and actually schedule these steps over the next two weeks. Okay, class is officially dismissed. It is time for some extra credit, aka me filling you in on all the things happening in the Hustle Saint the community right now. First and foremost, peacefully productive planner updates. I told y'all in our last episode that our 2026 weekly planners are $25. Y'all, that is over a 50% markdown. Yeah. And here's the thing: you still have five solid months left in a 2026 planner. So if you've been wanting to try out the Hustle Stanley planning system, I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to do that. And then speaking of planners, we are actively working on wrapping up our 2027 collection that is launching in September, just like it does every year. But we are doing things a little bit differently this year. The only opportunity for early shopping is happening inside Hustle Stanley Study Hall. So if you're a member of Study Hall, you're gonna be able to shop early. And then after everybody in Study Hall finishes shopping, we will open up shopping to the public. And then last announcement if you are not on our email list, what are you doing? Like, actually, what are you doing? We send out an email every Saturday called Slow Down Saturday with some peaceful productivity inspo and we fill you in on all the things happening in the hustles in the community. Y'all, the responses that we've been getting lately to Slow Down Saturday emails makes my heart so happy. I am so glad that you guys are loving these emails. I just imagine you guys like cozying up with like a cup of coffee or a cup of matcha or whatever, and like in your cozy, cutie little PJs on a Saturday morning and just like reading through it. Like that is what I like to imagine. The link to get Hustle Stanley emails is of course in the show notes and/or description box. So make sure that you go sign up for our email list if you're not already on it. But thank you guys so much for coming to class with me today. I will talk to y'all in the next episode. I love you so much, and I hope you have the best day ever.