Finding Joy in Tough Times: 7 Everyday Practices for Lasting Cheerfulness and Resilience

Ever notice how the world sometimes feels like it’s working against you to drain your energy — be it endless work stress, a gloomy news cycle, or just one of those off days? At that point, cultivating cheerfulness and emotional resilience is like developing a solid foundation within yourself. Cheerfulness doesn’t mean forcing a fake smile or pretending problems don’t exist. It’s about choosing to keep a positive perspective that helps you get through difficult moments.

The encouraging part is that both of these qualities can be built through simple, intentional habits backed by science and everyday experience. In this article, we’ll look at practical emotional resilience techniques and ways to build cheerfulness, so you can handle life’s ups and downs with more balance and a sense of hope.

MedBound Times connected with Dr. Devashish Palkar, MD, Government Medical College, Surat, on how to spark joy and strengthen resilience.

Gratitude helps the brain focus on what’s good instead of what’s missing. Writing down three things you’re grateful for each day can increase positivity.

Practicing gratitude helps us manage strong emotions, keeping us grounded and balanced rather than letting them take over.

Doing something kind for others creates a natural boost of happiness. Even small acts like helping a colleague or calling a friend can lift your spirits. Kindness also gives space to experience emotions authentically. As Dr. Palkar notes: “You don’t need to suppress or just distract yourself from emotions, but experience that emotion fully well.”
Showing kindness channels emotions in a healthy direction without pushing them aside.

When setbacks occur, shifting perspective is powerful. Instead of saying, “I failed,” try, “I learned something that will help me next time.” Dr. Palkar illustrated this point with an example: “If you fail after an exam and you're experiencing sadness, that sadness exists because something that you wanted to achieve, you have not been able to achieve. Something that was important, you have lost. So that sadness serves as a reminder and it wants us to process it.”

Reframing helps us use sadness as a way to grow rather than letting it hold us back.

Relationships are a strong source of cheerfulness. Sharing laughter, talking openly, or spending time with loved ones makes life lighter. This aligns with Dr. Palkar’s suggestion:

Conversations with others can brighten your mood and help you work through emotions more deeply.

Cheerfulness works best when it’s balanced.

Resilience, on the other hand, is about recognizing when you need to pause. It’s not about forcing yourself to be cheerful all the time, but about allowing space for real emotions while still finding the strength to keep moving forward.

Mindfulness, whether through meditation or breathing exercises, helps ease stress and makes room for real joy. More importantly, it teaches us to sit with our emotions instead of rushing to escape them. Dr. Palkar explains: “Emotional resilience is not about just changing that emotion suddenly like, oh, why am I feeling sad after the failure in an exam? Let me just watch a movie and I’ll be cheerful. No, that is not the whole purpose.”

His point reminds us that resilience isn’t about distracting ourselves or pretending everything is fine. It’s about giving emotions space, accepting them, and moving forward with balance. Mindfulness supports exactly this process, allowing calmness and steady cheer to grow naturally.

Cheerfulness often comes from noticing small wins in everyday life. We don’t need to wait for big milestones.

Dr. Devashish Palkar explains this beautifully: “Sadness can coexist while you continue to work towards something that is important. That is what emotional resilience is — meaning we are able to fight back from difficult situations and the challenges that life is invariably going to throw at us.”
This means you don’t have to wait until life feels perfect to celebrate progress. Even if things aren’t going exactly the way you hoped, acknowledging small wins helps balance the weight of sadness or setbacks. It creates a reminder that growth is happening even in tough times.

Life will always bring ups and downs, but cheerfulness is something we can nurture every day. By celebrating small wins, reframing our thoughts, and caring for our minds and bodies through positive psychology daily habits, we build not just moments of joy but also long-term strength.

Supporting this approach, research ^[1] shows that trait cheerfulness contributes to greater self-esteem and behavioral activation, which together predict higher life satisfaction. In other words, when cheerfulness becomes part of who we are rather than something we chase, it builds our belief in ourselves, motivates our actions, and ultimately leads to a more satisfying life. ^[2]

So, let this be your takeaway: cultivate cheerfulness not as an escape from tough feelings, but as a steady companion through them. Celebrate your small wins, stay curious and kind, connect meaningfully with others, and honor all your emotions as messages. Over time, this doesn’t just make us happier — it makes us more resilient, more confident, and more fulfilled. And as more individuals embrace these everyday practices for resilience, the ripple effect extends outward, strengthening community well-being alongside personal growth.

References:

1. Lau, Chloe, Francesca Chiesi, Jennifer Hofmann, and Don Saklofske. “Cheerfulness and Life Satisfaction Mediated by Self-Esteem and Behavioral Activation: A Serial Mediation Model.” Personality and Individual Differences 175 (2021): 110698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110698

2. Ruch, Willibald, and Tracey Platt. “Trait Cheerfulness and the Prediction of Life Satisfaction.” Journal of Happiness Studies, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9811-1

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