Tips to overcome unhappiness revealed

An expert has suggested that Feelings of discouragement or the blues are on that continuum, so it is important to be attentive and address those feelings.

Diane Tucker, from University of Alabama at Birmingham said that when one is down in the dumps, he or she should look at his or her "life equation": how time is being spent and what is being done to help nourish self-worth.

"When people feel down, they're less likely to be doing things that help them feel centred and personally efficacious. One of the first steps to feel better is to reach out to your network of good friends or social contacts. They can help provide a validation of the strongest parts of oneself," Tucker said.

In addition, Tucker said close friends can provide helpful feedback, including seeing our role in a difficult situation. Good friends let us know that we are not alone and remind us of the best parts of ourselves.

The expert suggested that other ways to beat the blues can be exercising and cooking a healthy meal, doing activities that provide internal satisfaction-like arts, reading or gardening, and writing down thoughts in a journal regularly.

She said that with the blues, we lose perspective or it becomes distorted- people go over and over the things they're unhappy with, and they get psychologically stuck and the challenge is to move beyond where you're stuck.

According to Tucker, ignoring the blues can be detrimental, leading to subtle issues like poor job performance or compromised relationships.