Understanding how you feel

You may instinctively know that you're in a bit of a rut, but it can also be hard to recognise when you're languishing, not flourishing. Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo highlights some of the signs that you may be experiencing:

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● Noticing changes in thinking patterns. This can include an increase in negative thinking, or the intensity of it. For example, negative thought patterns and cyclical thought patterns, with the same negative thoughts going round and round.

● Experiencing fluctuations or extremes in mood.

●Feeling deflated or lacking motivation.

● Noticing changes in behaviour.

You may be avoiding things or using things to cope such as alcohol, overeating or behavioural changes such as becoming short tempered or snappy.

Does any of this sound familiar, or do you have some sense that things aren't quite what you want them to be? "The first thing we need to do is identify whether it's something specific in life that has caused us to be in a rut in the first place, or whether it is just as a result of us pottering along in our comfort zone, and that life has become too limited as a result,' explains psychotherapist Beverley Blackman. It doesn't have to be something big that has caused this. It may be a sense of feeling stagnated, that your life feels a bit still and sluggish in a way that is unsatisfying 'Is it across multiple areas such as work, relationships, or other valuebased living?' adds Dr Quinn-Cirillo.

'Have you lost sight of your values? This is the who, what, when, and where that really matters to you.