20 Signs You're Unhappy (And What To Do About It)

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Updated on March 13, 2020

Physician and New York Times bestselling author

Lissa Rankin, M.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of "Mind Over Medicine," "The Fear Cure," and "The Anatomy of a Calling." She is a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic. Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials and also leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen and Kripalu.

March 13, 2020

These days, many of us suffer from a loss of meaning, direction, vitality, mission, purpose, identity, and genuine connection—a deep unhappiness that most of us have come to consider as simply ordinary. Over time, it becomes easier to feel numb to many of these signs and accept a lack of meaning in our lives as normal. I call this epidemic of unhappiness "soul loss" and believe that it blinds us from seeing the potential for joy and wholeness in ordinary life.

Here are 20 telltale signs that you're unhappy:

You feel like you're not as good as other people.
You yearn to be of service, but you have no idea what you have to contribute and why it matters.
You find yourself striving in vain for an impossible-to-achieve standard of perfection.
Your fears keep you from living large.
You're frequently worried that you're not good enough, smart enough, thin enough, young enough, [fill in the blank] enough.
You feel like a victim of circumstances that are beyond your control.
You feel like your daily life is meaningless and task-driven.
You often feel helpless, hopeless, or pessimistic.
You protect your heart with steel walls.
You often feel you don't really matter and your love doesn't make a difference.
You're always trying to fit in and belong but rarely feel like you do.
You feel beaten down by the challenges you face in your life.
You suffer from a variety of vague, hard-to-treat physical symptoms, such as fatigue, chronic pain, weight gain or loss, insomnia, skin disorders, or gastrointestinal symptoms.
You struggle with being able to accept love and nurturing.
You feel depressed, anxious, or chronically worried.
You feel like you're not appreciated enough.
You find yourself judging others.
You frequently numb yourself with alcohol, drugs, sex, television, or excessive busyness.
You feel disappointed with life.
You've forgotten how to dream.

What to do about it.

When you heal from soul loss, you see familiar things in new ways so you can increase your joy in what you already have. Sometimes the soul needs space in order to heal, and this may require the courage to make some external changes in your life. Perhaps you need to switch careers in order to give the soul more room to breathe. Perhaps an unhealthy relationship is constricting the soul, and it's time to go to couples' therapy, set boundaries, or even end things. Perhaps you need to find more people to love or relocate to a place that helps your soul come alive. Perhaps you need to give your soul permission to engage in more creative activities.

Meditating, establishing a breathwork practice, and following a spiritual path can also help you reconnect to your soul and find happiness right where you are. It can be astounding to discover that you've had what you needed all along and have been looking in all the wrong places. Perhaps all that is needed is to see the life you're already living in a different way.

Lissa Rankin, M.D.

Lissa Rankin, M.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of Mind Over Medicine, The Fear Cure, and The Anatomy of a Calling. She is a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic. Passionate about what makes people optimally healthy and what predisposes them to illness, she is on a mission to merge science and spirituality in a way that not only facilitates the health of the individual, but also uplifts the health of the collective. Bridging between seemingly disparate worlds, Lissa is a connector, collaborator, curator, and amplifier, broadcasting not only her unique visionary ideas, but also those of cutting edge visionaries she discerns and trusts, especially in the field of her latest research into "Sacred Medicine." Lissa has starred in two National Public Television specials and also leads workshops, both online and at retreat centers like Esalen and Kripalu. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her daughter. She blogs at LissaRankin.com and posts regularly on Facebook.