I was recently re-watching the Eat. Pray. Love movie and one phrase spoken by Julia Roberts character has caught my attention. Context: she was talking to her editor/best friend about her plans for travelling around the world after 2 failed relationships and her reasoning was that she lost her appetite for life and she feels empty inside.

But what is an appetite for life? To me, it is about being excited about one’s life. It is about living life to the fullest without going overboard like Jim Carey in Yes Man. It is about having energy, having purpose and yet being present and having time to enjoy what surrounds you.

What if I no longer 26 and I wake up already tired with muscle pain? What if I hate my job, I avoid watching news so I do not get anxiety and I never have energy to do or see anything outside of my home? Does it sound like I have lost appetite for life?

First of all, I really like a saying that goes something like this: “keep designing your life until it suits you”, meaning that you do not have to stop or settle for anything that does not make you happy or fulfilled. If you hate your job – find another one, if you hate your home – move. People are not trees with roots stuck in one place, we have freedom to do anything we want. Sometimes the reason why we do not feel an appetite for life is because we are not living the life we want. But who is there to blame besides ourselves? We are in control of our lives and we have the power to change it.

Another reason why we might feel no appetite for life is because we are not just living the life we settled for rather than built ourselves, but we also live unhealthy lifestyle as a way of distracting us from the real problem (being unhappy with aspects of our life).

For example, I hate my job so I wake up and go to sleep feeling negative. Instead of solving the problem by finding another job/income, I distract myself by eating yummy junk food, sweets, over drinking, watching too much TV instead of moving my body or even going outside, [insert your unhealthy distraction tactic here]. If this is the case, you may want to shake things up by slowly replacing negative habits with positive ones. Replace milkshake with smoothie, pizza with salad, watching TV with walking outside or doing zumba (still in front of the TV). It takes one tiny change that will give you a bit more physical energy. However, you will get much more mental energy from this because you will feel in control. Either you control your routine or your routine controls you.

Sometimes the reason why we lose appetite for life is stress. Sure, all kinds of things and life events happen that can leave us ‘frozen in time’ for quite a while. However: a) most people experience something stressful everyday, how about seeing ‘stress capacity’ as a muscle you can build to handle life better? b) sometimes stress is a choice – if you have been stressed for a long time and did nothing about it (did not address what causes stress and did not build capacity to handle stress) than it is possible you like being stressed. Maybe it gets you support of others or excuse not to do things. Either way you cannot be stressed all the time and enjoy life so you need to pick one.

Here are 20 easy ways to get an appetite for life:

1. Update your living space by getting new furniture or new bedding, curtains or other fabrics. Add living flowers or plants, find pictures, posters or paintings that inspire you or reflect your experiences. Surround yourself with small souveniers and little things you love. Your home reflects your mental state – if it is neglected and full of old things that you do not like it will eat away all your mental energy
2. Update your appearance – get a facial, a haircut, maybe new glasses or get a new wardrobe. If I feel bad about myself I am just going to hide from the world instead of living my life.
3. Plan something exciting – book a trip, get tickets for a concert or just make a reservation in a new restaurant with rooftop patio. Life is for living!
4. Get yourself a gift. A cake. Do something special for yourself without a reason.
5. Come up with a healthier and better routine – maybe a product to improve your sleep, your diet or a way to add more activity (I like wireless jumping ropes and steppers)
6. Find a way to enhance your life – get a new perfume, candles for the home, shower steamers, essential oils – aromatherapy is a real way to improve not just quality of life but also feel better
7. Explore crystals – there is a crystal for everything, from headache to solving financial problems. Get one and you will feel more supported. You can also get one in a bracelet, ring or neckles so it can become your good luck talisman
8. Connect with others – reach out to old friends and keep in touch, you will feel more connected to the world
9. Find a way to enhance your skin care routine – from better creams to beauty tools like gua sha that make wonders
10. Keep your mind open to new music, new movies and TV shows, and other updates when it comes to creativity. Find a new artist you like or visit new art exhibit or go listen to an opera
11. Try reading new books or books of new authors, books in different category you are used to (expand your comfort zone)
12. Learn to speak authentically and be clear about what you want to others (while being kind). It is liberating than holding things inside.
13. Get to know the latest trends in fashion and make up. Again you will feel more connected to the society and you will feel more confident
14. Develop a list of experts – find an expert in any field that is helpful to you and save them somewhere (for example, what is your favourite cooking blog, makeup expert, etc.) It is so easy to follow accounts but when you are following over 500 accounts it gets tricky to find them when you actually need them. Keep a list of them in a separate place.
15. Get a paper notebook and start recording your thoughts, dreams and plans. It will feel very old school comparing to just typing things on the phone but guess what it will give you different grounding feeling when you sit down in a coffee shop and physically write in your notebook. Also you will not get distracted by message and news notifications if you were to type on your phone.
16. Start taking more pictures of your surroundings and notice the beauty around you. If you look at professional photos, a lot of them are just photos of everyday things like a cup of tea or a sun reflecting off the glass. It will also improve your creativity
17. Do kind things to others including strangers – pay compliments, hold the door or pay for their coffee. Sometimes you can change their lives without knowing
18. Act like a child – if you have children, play with them. Make soap bubbles, dance in the rain (or without a reason), fly the kite, take a trip to the beach, build castles from chairs at home
19. Surround yourself with positivity – follow accounts that bring you joy, replace daily news with positive news or jokes, find a way to make life lighter
20. Train your brain to want things and not just things to buy. If you do not want anything in your life you are kind of dead. Start making wishes daily – you can make a wish when you see the time is matching (e.g., 11:11), when you see an air plane, when you see a shooting star, when you see a rainbow…happy people always have dreams and hopes and always find new ways to make wishes and have positive thoughts. Be one of them!