Feeling Like Shit? Here’s A Powerful Personal Wellness Checklist

Let’s go through a personal wellness checklist for when you’re feeling like shit.

Disclaimer: I am not a trained mental health professional. The purpose of this exercise is simply to check in with yourself when you’re feeling down or off, not to cure a mental illness. For that, it would be best to seek professional attention.

I came across a video on Tiktok (sadly lost it now in the sea of clips), but it was of a girl going through a checklist of her personal basic needs every time she’s feeling down.

This is a FANTASTIC idea. I think it helps a lot to be aware of our feelings and to be able to “troubleshoot” them when we’re experiencing negative emotions.

Going through your own list might help you feel better when there isn’t a deeper underlying cause.

The idea is that you want to assess the basic things you need to feel at peace. This list might look different for everyone. If one thing is missing, that might be why you’re feeling off and by identifying it, you can do something about it.

Here’s my “Why do I feel like shit” (a.k.a. “Personal Wellness Check”) list:

*Note this might not be the order that makes sense to you. I’ve put thought into the order of what I feel impacts my mood the most.

How to use the list

1. Run through every item on the list and answer the question.
2. If you answer “No” to any of the questions, see if there’s anything you can do to change that.
3. If you can act on the item that’s lacking, wait and see if your mood improves at all after you change something.
4. If you continue to feel bad, you may want to consider talking to a professional (your doctor and/or a mental health professional).

For example, if I go through my list and realize I haven’t been getting enough sleep and I’ve been feeling generally down lately, I can try and prioritize getting proper sleep over the next little while and see if that changes anything in my mood. It seems very simple, but sometimes we don’t realize how basic needs are correlated to our moods until we take the time to pause and think about it.

How to make your own list

You can feel free to use the items I have in my list above, but they (and the order) are strongly catered to me and my current needs. Here are a few ideas I left off my list but that might be essential for you:

• Have I exercised enough lately?
• Have I treated myself lately? (ex. to your favourite sweet/junk food)
• Have I cleaned my space recently?
• Have I had enough water recently?
• Have I been taking enough screen breaks? (ex. doing things like reading/puzzles)
• Have I written in my journal recently?
• Have I taken enough breaks from work?
• Have I meditated enough recently?
• Have I had enough sex/self-pleasure recently?
• Have I spent time around animals recently?
• Have I done anything to support my community recently?
• Have I participated in community events recently?
• Have I participated in activism efforts toward causes I care about recently?
• Have I volunteered enough of my time recently?
• Have I been productive recently?
• Have I played music/made art/done crafts/baked recently?
• Have I pampered myself recently? (ex. bubble bath, face mask, spa day)
• Have I stretched recently?
• Have I played sports/games recently?
• Have I been eating healthy recently?
• Have I indulged in a guilty (or not) pleasure recently? (ex. going out drinking/smoking with friends)
• Have I gone shopping recently?
• Have I reflected on myself and others recently?
• Have I been in the sun recently?
• Have I felt gratitude lately?
• Have I had a good laugh recently?

Tip: try to limit your list to what you REALLY need to feel content in life. There are many other things I could add to mine that make me feel good, but I feel like they’re not the bare essentials.

Now, it’s handy to put this list someplace you’ll be able to see it whenever you need it.

That might be a sticky note near your desk…

… or something digital you can access on your phone. I’ve added mine to my dashboard in Notion so I can access it anytime from my laptop or phone.

These lists don’t need to stay static over time. They may evolve as you change as a person. Maybe when you’re going through tougher times, the list will look closer to the bare essentials humans need to survive. When you’re doing better, it may involve things that contribute to your intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth.

Feel free to drop some of your own ideas in the comments. These lists were by no means exhaustive. I’m sure you have many good ideas of your own or things that are more important to you at this time.

This practice actually helps me a lot. I previously didn’t have this written down, but would just go through them in my head and I could usually find one item on the list that wasn’t given the attention it deserved.

I hope this idea helps you or at least gives you some inspiration for those times when life is getting you down ✨