Asking for a friend - how do you stay motivated when things don't go your way?

I think there's good stress and there's bad stress. Good stress helps you perform at your peak level when performance is called for. Good stress is a keeper, you wouldn't want to get rid of that. And then there's bad stress. This happens when you find yourself in a situation you don't want to be in, and can't get out of it. You'd want to cancel those out as best you can. My go-to solution is like yours: sports (weight training + cycling in my case). But for me sports is also a pleasure, I don't have to be stressed out to train.

A tough one. For me a short break outside with fresh air and hopefully some sun helps in acute stress. To have a good foundation handling the inevitable stress I do yoga and running, although to be honest in trouble times these activities suffer.