I sleep through my alarm, I’m out of coffee, the shower water is FREEZING and the clothes I want to wear to work today are nowhere to be found. It’s officially the start of a bad day. What do I do about it?
Here are some tips which have really helped me turn a bad day around, so I thought I’d share them with you all.
1) Appreciate
Well for one, I don’t keep whining about all the stuff that’s not happening as per plan. I keep reminding myself of all the good things that are happening alongside. All those little things which used to make you happy until you starting taking them for granted. It’s funny isn’t it? How as we grow up, it somehow seems more difficult to appreciate things. Little things, which over time, we turned from amazing to ordinary, just by the way in which we look at them. Like that 100 rupee note I found in my jeans pocket, and the way the morning sunlight bathes my living room in an amazing auburn warmth, or the sight of the neighbors kid going for a walk with his grandfather, patiently matching his Dadaji’s slow pace. Do things that make you smile, laugh and enjoy life.
2) Make Time to Do Things You Love
When everything seems to be going downhill and I’m unwilling to deal with it, I sometimes plug in my noise cancelling Bose headphones, go to my Favorites playlist on iTunes, lie down in bed, shut my eyes and just listen for hours. Sometimes I hear new beats, new instruments that I’ve never before heard in a favorite song. Sometimes I know exactly what to listen for, like I composed the song myself, like the music is doing exactly what I want it to do, they rhythm turning this way and that, as if I’m silently commanding it to.
Like many others, I find that listening to music is quite therapeutic for me. Some people find their own personal therapy in other activities – cooking, a bubble bath, baking (another one of my favorites), painting, eating comfort food, watching your favorite movie etc etc. It’s those activities that you love, that you lose yourself in, which I advise you to turn to, to get you through a difficult day.
3) Talk to People who Make You Happy
The other day, both my friend and I were in a bad mood and decided to cheer one another up. We made a night of it – from watching romantic comedies to eating leftover butter chicken at 3am in the morning to laughing about silly things – and soon the bad mood was forgotten. It’s the simplest thing, really. Spend more time around people who are positive, who make you happy and who you’re comfortable talking to. Talking about any problems or anything that’s troubling you magically lightens the load on your mind sometimes. Of course there are those people who’d rather be left alone at these times, but interacting with loved ones is a definite option that everyone should consider. It’s like your own little free talking session, with no judgment.
4) Keep It Simple
For some reason, it seems like my bad moods always come at a time when I’m all out of space on my Things To Do list. So here’s what I do, I break the rules. I DON’T religiously follow the list. Maybe I do the first two things on my list which absolutely NEED to be done that day, but I put off the less important things for tomorrow, just to give myself some time to gather my thoughts, fix the stuff that’s ruining my day (like fixing the damage done by a fight), or just taking a self-day to go to the mall and lose myself at the New Arrivals stall at Crossword. Studies have shown that people who over-schedule and multitask tend to suffer from higher stress levels and an overall sense of unhappiness as compared to those who don’t.
Those are my quick fixes, which have helped me over the years. What about you? Please comment and add your own notes, and we’ll make out own collection of pick-me-up ideas to refer to when we’re down in the dumps and in need of some inspiration.