These six simple tactics can shift your mindset—and make you happier.

By Korin Miller

February 18, 2025

You have two major options when you’re struggling with something: wallow in it, or try to look on the bright side. Turns out, choosing the second option, or “lemonading,” may make you more resilient and happier overall—so that you can still enjoy your life when things are challenging.

That’s the major takeaway from research published in Frontiers in Psychology. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 500 adults during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and broke them into two groups based on personality traits. One group had higher levels of playfulness based on something called the Adult Playfulness Trait Scale, and the other had lower levels of playfulness.

The researchers found that while both groups had a realistic view of what was happening during the pandemic, the more playful group—also dubbed the lemonading group—was more optimistic about the future and better at problem-solving. They even managed to enjoy day-to-day activities more, despite all the chaos happening around them. Basically, when life gave them lemons, they made lemonade.

While some people are naturally more playful than others, mental health experts say it’s possible to hack your brain to add more lemonading to your life so that you can make the best of whatever obstacles come your way. Here’s what researchers want you to know about lemonading, plus how to actually use it to improve your mindset and mental health.

Lemonading is slightly different from seeing the glass half full.

At its core, lemonading is about having a good attitude. But lemonading is a little more complicated than just trying to be positive, Xiangyou Shen, PhD, lead study author and assistant professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, tells SELF. Lemonading is about having “clear-eyed optimism” about the challenges you’re facing while also trying to be positive about what’s next. “Think of it as turning lemons into lemonade while staying fully aware that you’re working with lemons, not oranges,” Dr. Shen explains.

She stresses that lemonaders aren’t deluded, though. “[In the study], they acknowledged risks and challenges just as realistically as others did,” Dr. Shen says. People who practice lemonading also feel vulnerable and isolated sometimes. Still, Dr. Shen says that what set lemonaders apart in the study is that they were able to be “realistic” about what was happening around them while still thinking of positive things in the future. Basically they didn’t buy into toxic positivity, but still managed to be upbeat. Lemonaders were also good at tweaking their behaviors and trying to be creative in how they navigated hardships. Ultimately they felt more joy and satisfaction with their lives than people who didn’t have this approach.

Here’s how to work more lemonading into your life.

Some people are naturally better at lemonading than others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use this strategy if you’re not already lighthearted. A lot of it boils down to trying to look at the pros in a situation, which can ultimately free you up to be more positive.

1. Acknowledge your feelings, and then try to reframe them.

Things will inevitably happen in life that upset you, and it’s important to acknowledge your feelings instead of brushing them off, Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and cohost of the Mind in View podcast, tells SELF. But instead of assuming that things will continue to be bad, she suggests mentally giving yourself other options.

“Ask yourself, ‘Is there another way to look at this? What is the best case, worst case, and likely scenario?’” Dr. Gallagher says. She also recommends looking at the situation as it is, and then focusing on what you can do about it, if anything. For example: “If you were laid off, but you haven’t been happy in your job for months, what could be good about this?” Dr. Gallagher says. “You don’t need to find the silver lining in everything, but sometimes looking at things through a different lens can make a big difference.”

Trying to find a balance in how you look at things is crucial, Jason Moser, PhD, professor of cognition and cognitive neuroscience at Michigan State University, tells SELF. “Having a view of life where you don’t suppress emotions and you try to problem-solve in a productive way is important,” he says. “It’s crucial not to have rose-tinted glasses where you’re like, ‘everything is fine,’ but also remember that most of the time, negative things get better.”

2. Come up with a go-mantra.

Research has found that doing positive affirmations can make people feel more upbeat in general, but saying things like “How can I be a friend to myself in this moment?” isn’t for everyone. “Positive affirmations are tough. They can feel cheesy,” Dr. Moser says. Coming up with a mantra like, “I got this,” can help, he says. That can mean taking a beat before a big 5K race or meeting your partner’s parents for the first time to mentally repeat this saying to yourself to be your own cheerleader.

Dr. Moser has also done research that found talking to yourself like a coach when you’re dealing with something tough can help. “You can pump yourself up by using your own name, like, ‘Hey Jay, you’ve got this,’” he says. “It can feel less cheesy when it’s in the third person.”

3. Don’t discount the value of dark humor.

In a perfect world, you’d be able to laugh any time. But it can be hard to crack up when things are tough. “Even under dark times or real hardship, it is very possible to see and take pleasure or humor in other aspects of life,” Gail Saltz, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at the NY Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, tells SELF. You can try to find ways to laugh about what you’re struggling with, like saying to yourself, “Wow, and I thought things couldn’t get worse.”

Even black humor can be helpful, Dr. Saltz says. This still allows you to acknowledge the problem you’re dealing with while being able to laugh. “It means taking pleasure from even minimal problem-solving and focusing on methods of bringing a bit of joy into your day in any way you can,” Dr. Saltz says.

4. Do the opposite of what you’re tempted to do.

It’s easy to get into a funk when you’re facing feelings of sadness, fear, or frustration. That’s why it’s important to push yourself a little, Nora Brier, PsyD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, tells SELF.

“Act opposite to emotions of sadness when you have been feeling them for a long time,” she says. That can translate to getting dressed up and going to a party, even if you’d probably rather stay in and binge Netflix like you’ve been doing all week. Spending time on yourself and talking to people may make you feel more positive, or simply help bring you back to a neutral state instead of continuing to feel sad, Dr. Brier says. If you stayed home, you’d miss the opportunity to at least get out of your head for a bit, she points out.

5. Shake up your routine.

Having a set schedule can be helpful for lowering stress and letting you feel more in control, Kerry Kinney, PhD, a psychologist and assistant professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, tells SELF. “But sometimes they can start to feel monotonous,” she adds.

Mixing things up a little can shift your perspective and help you see things in a new way, Dr. Gallagher says. It can also cause your brain to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps you feel pleasure. “That can be a really helpful result when we do something new,” she notes. You don’t need to completely snub your schedule to get this side effect. Dr. Gallagher says that even doing smaller things like taking a new route to work or trying a different coffee in the morning can help.

Another potential perk from this hack is that it helps you practice flexible thinking, Dr. Shen says. So if you’re thrown for a loop in the future, you may be able to navigate it more comfortably—and positively—because you’ve already learned to try things in a different way.

6. Focus on what’s in front of you.

People tend to obsess about the future and even paint it in a negative light when something bad happens, Dr. Gallagher says. That’s why Dr. Shen recommends trying to focus on living in the moment and being engaged in what you’re doing. “Pay attention to how deeply and actively you engage in activities, rather than just going through the motions,” she says. “At day’s end, swap ‘How productive was I?’ for ‘What moments of fun did I have?’”

Reframing your thoughts this way can shift your attention to quality experiences you had, like when you shared an inside joke with a friend or managed to book that popular gym class that always fills up early. Circling back on those positives can help reinforce that you had some great moments in your day too. “There is something powerful about being intentional with noticing some of the positive moments that you can connect back to quickly,” Dr. Gallagher says.

If you’ve tried lemonading and it feels like it’s just not clicking for you, that’s okay—Dr. Gallagher points out that you shouldn’t stress yourself out about trying to be happier. But keep in mind that this is a flex that can take more time for some people than others. “The key is not to simply think more positively, but to develop the ability to actively imagine and pursue positive possibilities while maintaining realistic awareness of challenges,” Dr. Shen says. The tactics above can help you practice that mindset shift and make it more likely you’ll be able to spot—and embrace—silver linings in the future.