Maria Mojo Mondays: How to Feel Good When You Don't Feel Good!

Happy New Year Mindset Maverick,

I’ve spent years talking about this.
Writing about it.
Teaching it.
Speaking about it on stages.

And I want to bring it here today, because it matters.

How to feel good when you don’t feel good.

When you feel good physically, it is easy to feel good mentally.
Those are the days when your body cooperates, your energy is steady, and your nervous system feels calm.

And I hope you appreciate those days deeply when they show up.

But that is not the moment that defines your resilience.

The real work lives somewhere else.

🌿 A Grounding moment for you …

If you’re reading this on a day when you don’t feel great, pause for a moment.
Take a breath. Yes, right now.
Take a DEEP breath in and release.

Nothing here is asking you to fix yourself.
This is simply an invitation to meet yourself where you are and get grounded in the moment.

✨ Mojo Truth

I remember being at events with people who had been diagnosed with MS.
Many of them said the same thing to me.

“I can stay positive when I feel good.”
“But when the symptoms show up, everything changes.”

The fatigue.
The discomfort.
The uncertainty.

And I understood it at a cellular level, because I live it too.

Symptoms have a way of hijacking your emotional state if you let them.
They can pull you into fear, frustration, and that dark mental place where your thoughts start spiraling.

But that moment is not a failure.

That moment is the invitation.

🌿 On a personal note …

For me, this often shows up in small, ordinary moments.
Moments you would never see from the outside.
Moments where my body asks for something different than my plans did.

Those are the moments where I get to choose how I relate to myself.
Not perfectly.
Just intentionally.

If I wake up and my legs are doing the tingly dance more than usual …
I breathe. I don’t make it mean anything.
I relax into the deeper knowing that ALL IS WELL.

Recently I tweaked my knee switching sneakers that have very different heel to toe drops. My body did not like me for that.
My calves and ankles were actually yelling at me.
I listened. I modified my next step (literally - haha).
I had some moments of frustration (my wife would tell you that for sure), but then I pivoted … intentionally, deliberately to a feeling of relief, to a feeling of “this is just temporary”.

That’s the work.

🔄 Mojo Reframe

Most people believe mindset work is something you do after you feel better.

I see it differently.

Mindset is not a reward for feeling good.
It is the tool you use when life is not cooperating.

The inner work is not meant for perfect days.
It is meant for the days when your body, your circumstances, or your energy feel off.

That is where resilience is built.
That is where self-trust is strengthened.
That is where you begin to influence your health and well-being in a meaningful way.

Feeling good when everything is going your way is easy.
That is circumstance, not mastery.

✨ Mojo Coaching Insight

Feeling good does not mean pretending everything is fine (while still embracing the energy of frustration underneath).
It does not mean bypassing pain or slapping positivity on top of real emotions.

Feeling good means this:

Staying present.
Staying grounded.
Staying self-led.

It means choosing how you meet the moment, even when the moment is uncomfortable.

Life does not move in straight lines.
It has bumps, diagnoses, losses, curveballs, and seasons that knock you off your happy horse.

That does not mean something has gone wrong.

It means you are living.

And this is exactly where mindset work becomes powerful.

💫 Mojo Practice

The next time you are not feeling good, physically or emotionally, try this:

Instead of asking,
“How do I make this go away?”

Ask,
“How do I want to show up with this?”

Then choose one small thing that supports you in that moment.
A breath.
A walk.
A grounding thought.
A gentler pace.
A piece of chocolate. (← Ok, I couldn’t resist that one.)

You are not fixing yourself.
You are partnering with yourself.

That distinction matters.

🌿 Remember …

This is not about being positive all the time.
It is about building a relationship with yourself that is steady, kind, and resilient.

It’s about choosing to find that feeling of relief when you are “off”, frustrated or dealing with something that has thrown you off your vibrational horse.

And the more you practice this on the hard days, the more natural it becomes on every other day too.

💛 Mojo Close

Learning how to feel good when you don’t feel good is not denial.
It is not weakness.

It is strength.
It is presence.
It is choice.

This is the work I teach.
This is the work I live.

Because life will always have moments that test you.
And when you know how to meet those moments with awareness and intention, everything changes.

You are more powerful than you think.
Even on the days you do not feel like it.

I hope your 2026 is a year that is filled with abundant love, peace and pleasant surprises that make you smile from ear to ear!

With love and plenty of Positive Mojo,
Maria Lesetz
Your Mindset & Resilience Coach