For some reason, although thoughts can influence reality, I find that vocalizing those thoughts give true power to them. The things you speak about make those things happen easier and quicker. In recognizing this, I have realized that physically doing something to bring those thoughts into reality is a powerful way to manifest change into reality.
This, I believe, ties into the basic concept of alchemy:
"As above, so below".
Meaning, what happens energetically is reflected physically, and vice versa. Thoughts are energy. If you persist in a thought for long enough, it will start to show in the world around you. This is a very slow way of doing it, but it works. If you physically take action in the direction you would like however, that is stirring up and creating a storm of energy, enabling that energy to kick-off and start a butterfly effect leading to where you want to go. It's a faster way to help get what you want.
If you think about something and do not take action however, it provides a risk for that energy to stagnate or even build resistance, especially if it's something you're uncomfortable with or don't want. This is also why thoughts are a great form of energetic protection. (There's a whole segment I'd like to go into at some point about how that relates to using your life-force to create energetic shields and such, but I'll get through my current thoughts first. Though it is something I would love to talk about!)
Additionally, if you take action towards something but have fears about it or don't believe in it, that creates a build-up of resistance. Although the action kicks up a plethora of energy, your thoughts and emotions against it shut up that energetic current and cancel it out, causing your progress to stagnate or even fail. The only way to prevent this is by making sure your actions and energy are harmonizing and/or in sync. Once you manage to do that, your goals and wishes should begin to come true rather quickly.
Now of course, this depends on you, your emotions, your beliefs, and your physical energy levels. On an emotional level, I find that healing and resetting the nervous system is a large help. You can do this in a number of ways, though my favorite methods include vagus nerve stimulation and EFT tapping. You can also do somatic release exercises and/or breathwork, but I find those to be rather intense, as you are basically releasing a lot of stored trauma from your body all at once, and you will have a lot of old, trapped emotions surfacing. If you aren't ready for that, EFT tapping and vagus nerve stimulation are definitely gentler ways to help heal and reset your nervous system.
Another factor that affects your emotions is trauma. There are a number of ways to help heal this, such as somatic breathwork, journaling, and shadow work. I've already explained somatic breathwork, and journaling is more or less flexible to what you want, but I'll go through shadow work a bit.
Shadow work is where you delve deeper into the more unsavory, socially unacceptable or unwanted parts of yourself and accepting them. It is, in a way, a form of self-love. Now, where it can be painful is in order to care for those parts of yourself, you have to understand the reason behind why those parts were shoved away to begin with, which can be traumatic if you uncover something particularly awful. For me, I just sit with my emotions and follow "negative" emotions such as sadness or anger until I trace them back to an initial root, which can be a memory or a reaction of some sort. Once I find it, I tell that part of myself that it is safe and okay to exist. It still is a bit intense, but it's cathartic for me.
Physical energy is a bit easier than some assume. (I fell asleep partway into writing this part, so please excuse any redundancy on my part.) It's really as simple as taking care of yourself and respecting your body's needs. If you need to rest, rest. Don't push yourself past your limits. Make sure you eat properly and take care of your health. If you are exhausted, do not force yourself to keep going. Allow yourself space to de-stress and decompress by focusing on things you enjoy. For this, it would be good to have a hobby of some kind that makes you happy. It doesn't have to be done perfectly, the main purpose in it is to bring you joy and relief, and perhaps even catharsis.
For me, I enjoy coding and writing, as well as esotericism. Involving myself in them brings me a sort of intrinsic happiness, and even if it isn't physically doing anything to change my situation, it helps to relieve the pain that I feel, which gives me the strength to help myself.
A healed self is a powerful self, and by healing yorself, you are giving yourself the key to changing your life.
So...in short:
Etheric energy that is equivalent to physical energy without any reservation or hesitation (whether that hesitation be fear, doubt, disbelief, or avoidance) will always manifest.
Etheric energy = emotions and beliefs.
Physical energy = nervous system, physical health, well-being, and physical actions.