(Lesser Known) Hacks for Life's Problems

The Sims 3 © Electronic Arts

 Wouldn't it be great to feel happy 100% of the time and sad 0% of the time? For whatever reason that's not possible, but these lesser known strategies can help make the shitty moments not as shitty...(hopefully)

1. 

Problem: You Can't Get Over Someone

Imagine your situationship flips a switch and ghosts you (don't ask). The first thing you're likely going to do is put on headphones and listen to music to drown out your thoughts. STOP. When you listen to music while you're having strong feelings, those feelings become associated with the songs you listen to. At some point you will start to feel better, but once you put your headphones on again, you're going to get transported right back to how you felt the day you got broken up with...and it takes awhile to untie the feelings you tied to your favorite songs. While this might seem drastic, it does help—don't listen to music until you're over it (or at least not sobbing about it).  

2. 

You're Depressed for No Apparent Reason

While there isn't a clear-cut solution here, you know what makes things infinitely worse? Watching the news. If you take a week-long break from staying up to date on all the current and awful events happening around you, I promise things will feel at least slightly better. Ignorance truly is bliss—have a friend carry the burden of seeing what's going on and only telling you about things that are relevant to you.

3. 

You Hate Your Life

Speaking from experience, the best way to dissociate when you hate your life is by building your dream life in The Sims. There's endless DLC, giving you the ability to live out the life you actually want. The reason why this is a hack is because building your dream life without real-life's roadblocks getting in the way might actually help you identify what makes you happy—and you can change your real life accordingly. (Not me discovering that I didn't want to be with my boyfriend when I didn't build him into my sims dream home.)

4. 

You're Trapped in a Routine and Life Feels Like a Simulation

I cannot stress this enough: give yourself side quests to embark on (the weirder the better). For example, I wanted an invite on someone's boat—who doesn't want to go on a boat? I took my sketch pad and pencil down to the marina and acted very interested in illustrating (I don't draw). There was an older man cleaning up around his boat and when we made eye contact, I waved. He immediately got off the boat and walked up the dock to talk to me. I told him I was getting back into drawing to which he replied "That's so interesting!" Not even 2 minutes into the conversation he told me his boat was all mine. Before embarking on this quest, the plan for that day was looking at Instagram reels. Which sounds more interesting?