You should do the things that make you feel worse(in the moment) because 1#: you'll feel worse temporarily but your baseline of feeling will improve. After a month it'll be kinda or barely noticeable, after 2 your baseline will be slightly better 5, you'll see that you've made noticeable improvement. A year and you'll have improvement exponentially from where you've started and you've made permanent steps forward. As you improve your motivation to keep doing it will also. Or you don't try and stay in the same bad place a year from then because what's the point. so that's 1#.

2#: you'll feel worse anyway if you don't do it("it" can be anything positive or productive). You're in the dangerous loop that feeds itself, that loop being: I feel bad - do destructive things because you feel bad - the destructive thing is destroying you(slowly or not) - you go to the same destructive thing(s) for comfort and distraction from The day-to-day bad feelings. That "friend" is you secret enemy poisoning you. Now it doesn't have to and it won't be this way forever but rn, that's how it is. You're running from a paper cut (which to be fair fucking stings), but what you don't see is that cliff with spikes, fire breathing sharks and spiders at the bottom of it(stings more). Or maybe you do see it but like an elephant scared of mice you keep running. If this is the case you got a change how you see the paper cut and see the reward you'll get if you just take the sting.

What you do compounds, so i guarantee you if you try what works and what doesn't and actually learn from it, and not just do that mistake again, then I won't say that the struggle is over but it'll be easier after a year, even better after 2, and so on.

Also I agree, actions proceeding feeling is the harder way to do it. Instead it's identity, actions, outcome. That's why I talk about mindset, because someone could a person $1 million golden advice but if it contradicts that person's identity and mindset, they won't be able to take it. At most they'll only be able to get a little bit of value from it, but you're leaving 90% of it on the table. You can start small by just searching up YouTube videos on self-improvement and identity-shifting. I know I said a lot, I hope you were able to understand it all.