ACT Ideas

Most people feel stuck and unmotivated at times. When that happens, we usually face two problems at once: we don’t want to do the things we need to do, and then we beat ourselves up for not wanting to do them. Let’s be honest—many of the things we avoid when we’re feeling stuck simply aren’t fun. Some are boring, tedious, or downright unpleasant. In those moments, shame often shows up as a motivator, trying to push us into action. But shame only works for so long. Eventually,

Many approaches to mental health focus on reducing symptoms first, with the assumption that you need to feel better before you can live better. ACT takes a different approach. It teaches that while reducing suffering often happens naturally over time, you do not need to wait for anxiety, sadness, or self‑doubt to disappear before taking meaningful action.

Jennifer was a busy mother of three young children who felt stretched thin by work, family, and volunteer obligations. She had strong values around health and self-care, and in the past she had expressed those values through running. Before having kids, she ran regularly, completed frequent 10Ks, and went to the gym several times a week. She credited this routine with helping her feel strong, energized, and emotionally steady. Like many parents, however, her exercise routine

A few years ago, I worked with a young client—let’s call him Kevin—who described his life as “one big failure to launch.” Kevin was 21, living with his parents, and spending most of his time sleeping, smoking weed, playing video games, watching porn, and feeling miserable. He had done reasonably well in high school, but like many young adults, he viewed college strictly as job training. Since he didn’t know what he wanted to do “with the rest of his life,” college felt pointl