Being bogged down by the cares of life can make you feel like you have the weight of the entire Earth and her big brother Jupiter on your shoulders. Being strong is admirable, but no one should have to be that strong.

Life doesn’t always go the way we plan it, but many of the happiest people in the United States are on their second or third “go around” in the game of life. That just goes to show, you don’t have to be Stella to get your groove back! Continue reading to learn ways to make your second act happier and healthier than your first one.

Move to a new city.

There’s an old saying that “Wherever you go, you have to take you with you.” While that phrase is true, that doesn’t mean you have to bring old relationships, problems, or even your career with you everywhere you go. Sometimes, moving to a new city—or even a whole new state—is just what a person needs to hit the reset button on their life.

If you are planning to move to a new city, then you need to start saving up and working on your credit score well in advance. Depending on your credit score, your down payment will be anywhere from 5% to 15% of your home’s mortgage. Your credit report also weighs heavily on how much interest you will have to pay on your mortgage. There are loan calculators online that you can use to estimate how much your monthly payments for your mortgage will be.

Starting a new career in a new city can be difficult, so you should consider reaching out to a career counselor. Career counselors do much more than help you look through job ads. They can help you to find the right career to suit your personality. Additionally, mental health professionals and career counselors can help you to find a better work-life balance.

Gather a support system.

One of the most difficult things to do is to get a new start in life. Making such a drastic change means changing your relationships with certain people as well as the way you handle certain situations. It requires a shift in your mindset and maybe even your physical address.

Even if you’re starting your life all over from scratch, you’ll still need a support system to help you get through your transition. Humans are social creatures, and some sense of community is essential to a clean bill of mental health. So even though you may recluse into your cocoon as you go through metamorphosis, you still need supportive people in your corner.

COVID-19 has made it difficult to get together with friends and family members, but you can still meet face-to-face with them virtually. Get as much human contact as possible—it’s not a good idea to isolate yourself from the whole world as you go through your evolutionary process.

If you don’t have anyone close to you that you can confide in, then you should consider meeting with a professional counselor. Seek out a counselor or therapist in Washington DC who has years of experience helping people start new lives in “The District.” Wherever you go in the United States, there are counselors and other mental health professionals who can help you to manage the stress of beginning your life’s journey anew.

Get rid of the negative habits and influences in your life.

When you’re starting your life over, one of the most crucial things a professional counselor will tell you to do is to cut off negative habits and people. There may be some people and things that you have a strong affinity for who can’t enter into this new life with you.

It can be difficult to tell the difference between good and bad influences. An easy to apply litmus test is to tell the people in your life about the changes you’re planning to make to your lifestyle. If they don’t show as much interest in your growth as they showed in your destruction, then they don’t have a role in your next act.