Have you been in places in the past where the feeling is that overwhelming that it makes you sick, it makes you cry.

You feel this pain inside that is unlike normal pain, like the pain I experienced after doing a mono on a pushbike, falling and tearing my cruciate ligament in my knee.

It’s a pain that we all at some stage experience. I have and not just once. Some people I know have it much, much worse than myself and more consistent I am sure.

This is the pain associated when our out of control emotions take over because the future looks hopeless. It looks bleak.

What does your future look like?

Is it looking better or worse?

When our future is looking in shambles. When we fear that there is simply no turning back, no changing what simply is, we cringe, we cry, we hurt, we sack ourselves of motivation to even try. Sometimes!

The good news is that the future is never consistent to where we are in this very moment. Change is sure to occur, it is inevitable. However we have to make some effort to influence this change. For better or worse.

I have come up with things that help me deal with these downers. Times in which I simple feel ill with anxiety of what will be.

There is hope! And I know we all have it within us to really make our future bright and greater than it is today.

Looking back 5 years ago I never would have imagined this is where I would be today. Looking forward from 5 years from now I have no certainty where I will be exactly but I am positive that my future looks bloody good. Great in fact!

I am far from perfect, although I often claim to be, but importantly I am making effort and so can you.

A) Write down your dreams.

Where is it that you see yourself in the future? What are you doing? Where are you living? Who are you with? And how grateful are you for being there.

The dream should be truly something you desire not just a creation based on what everyone else wants or that what others may expect of you.

A dream is your own. If you could wave a magic wand and be exactly where you want to be, doing what you want, without limitations, where would you be?

Dreams help put us in a state of fantasy and that is the purpose. Dreams create happiness but exciting and motivating us that there is hope for us in the future. The future with dreams looks better.

B) Think about all that you have and all that you are grateful for.

Sometimes it’s just important to reflect on all the greatness in your life. We often forget as we forge through life chasing all the time things that seem to be continually out of our reach, all that we already have.

The ability to see, hear, smell, wake up and walk to the toilet to pee. The roof over our heads, the warm bed, and the good food we get to choose and eat.

What about the people in our life that bring us joy and happiness and the experiences that we are fortunate to be able to experience only if we choose to open our eyes.

If everyday you simply think of a few things that you are fortunate to have in your life all those goals and tasks that sometimes crowd our day may become less stressful on our mind, body and spirit.

C) Get a vision board or just get a clear.

A vision board set up somewhere you will see it everyday is a refreshing reminder or why you are here. Why it is you do what you do everyday.

It allows you to keep that dream in your head alive without all the noise surrounding you, trying to block out your dreams.

Stick on the board all the great things in your life. Put up your dreams, your mentors, and people you inspire to become. Use strong visuals that allow you to really create clearer visions of where it is you are heading.

A vision board allows you at any time of the day, week, and year to realign, forget the rubbish and get back on track to achieving your dream. It somehow makes you feel a little more alive and brings with it a hopeful outlook of the future.

D) Get into some better routines.

I am all about routines and to be honest I am one of those people that without routine I seem less effective as a human being. This is probably why I love holidays so much, I break routines however routines are habitual and addictive and can be fun.

Routines set us in a direction yet without direction we sometimes become lost. When we are lost our moods are not conducive to positive behaviour.

Routines fire us up; they crank up the dial on everything we do because suddenly we have purpose and drive. With routine we become more productive and get more things done and this leaves us with a sense of achievement.

Achievement makes us feel good; it triggers happy chemicals in the brain. These happy chemicals allow us to see a more positive future, a brighter one.

E) Let go of the past.

If something didn’t happen for you yesterday or last week or even if you are holding onto some pain from years ago it is important and essential you learn how to move on.

The stuff that holds us back is the stuff that often no longer exists. Some amazing people have lost limbs, sight, hearing you name it only to have become a major inspiration to all others. How? They let go of what happened and move forward.

They practice forgiveness, which leads me to the next thought.

F) Forgive yourself and others.

We have high expectations of ourselves and expectations that are placed on us. We also carry these expectations for others.

To forgive someone for hurtful actions towards you can be hard. Sometime the actions may have been unintentional or intentional however without forgiveness you will never be able to move on.

The first step is to let it out, talk to someone, write it down and just let the pain, thoughts and perhaps misunderstandings leave your body. With this done you can then move on to understanding and learning. This should assist you and will allow you to send out love to the other and forgiveness.

You must learn to forgive yourself also.

It is often the strangest of circumstances that can teach us the greatest learning’s.

Sometimes out brightest future is covered in the most horrendous disguise.

G) Learn and self improve.

When you continue to learn and improve yourself you continue to change the future outlook for the better. By just learning a little bit every day you will sure to be 365 times better at the end of the year.

I have read an article recently that suggested learning is better than sex, playing or watching sport or doing lottery.

I would suggest that it perhaps trumps many things that bring us joy like drugs addiction, eating disorders or gambling.

It leaves us feeling more confident, its enjoyable and 71% of people, according to this article; believe that by continual learning you will enjoy a greater quality of life.

Humans are built to learn and in doing so we continue to improve the standards of living for the human race across the globe and at the same time can certainly improve the quality and outlook for our future by learning.

This will unlock the greatness within us all and allow us to live to our full potential.

H) Smile laugh and play.

Guilty! This is one area that I am learning to practice more and more. I have been guilty of taking everything that I do and everything in my life so seriously that I forget to just enjoy it, have fun, laugh and play along the way.

Having kids have been great to help me better understand this. I believe there is more to life than work and money.

I also feel that if we cannot wake up every day to smile and play we are certainly not going to be entirely positive about the future, short-term or long-term.

If you cannot smile, laugh and play with whatever it is you do then make some change quick. Out short lives in this universe with still billions or trillions of years remaining would seem wasted if we just didn’t have some fun along the way.

Smiling is effortless so try it. Laughing is contagious so spread it. And playing will keep you younger for longer and who doesn’t want that.

I) Start today.

It is so important that you don’t just continue to wait. Take some action and believe that you can do it. The future will always look better when you walk in the direction you want to go not when you sit back or walk away from it.

Go out there and live. Live like you want to live.