Reality called and wanted to remind you that everything isn’t going to be okay all the time. In fact, there are going to be a lot of days, maybe even weeks (or months, God forbid) that Suck (yes, that is spelled with a capital S). It’s like when your nose is stuffed during a miserable cold and for the life of you, you can’t remember what it feels like to breathe. Then, one day you wake up with your sinuses clear, and you can’t exactly recall when you got better, but there you are breathing through your nose like a champion.
It's easy to become trapped in our minds if we refuse to shift our perspective to the greater image.
This isn’t an article on How-to-Not-Make-Life-Suck, or What-to-Do-to-Make-Life-Less-Sucky-Faster, because just like how no one knows the cure to the common cold, we also have not yet found a universal salve to quickly resolve capital-S Sucky times in our lives. We just have to push through them until one day we wake up, and we realize that we don’t actually feel that bad. However, there are a few cost-free tools you can use to make the days that Suck a little more gentle.
1. Stop reminiscing on the “good times.”
When things Suck, all those happy memories are going to be tinted with sadness and nostalgia—you’re just going to succeed in making yourself an ooey-gooey mess of snot and tears. At this Sucky second, what’s actually in your best interest is to pick up the phone, Facebook message, run across the street, whatever, and let a friend know that your day Sucks. A good friend is going to want to know, not ask emotionally prying questions, and most importantly, is going to provide a shoulder to lean on, cry on, and snot on. You need to let your emotions run their course. I know you’ve heard the volcano analogy about a bajillion times already, but it’s got merit. Withholding your emotions is just going to lead to an epic emotional eruption at a later, unexpected, and probably inconvenient time for you.
Origami and other creative outlets are a great way to channel negative energy into something beautiful and productive.
2. Recall the last time you ate, hydrated, and slept.
If any or all are lacking, you better believe that your mood is going to be affected. Get on that stat. If you feel like you can’t eat, just remind yourself that you were able to chew, swallow, repeat yesterday, and you didn’t lose this ability overnight. Once you’ve addressed that, maybe with your friend (if you feel comfortable), or with your mom (because your mom loves you no matter what), or with your dog (or cat or guinea pig or tarantula, for that matter), try to pinpoint when your day started to Suck, and what caused it. Sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes it’s not; just keep in mind that there are no bad reasons to trigger a Sucky day. Even if you can’t find a reason, allow yourself to validate your feelings. You are allowed to have Sucky day(s). For your own sake, pull yourself out of that empty bathtub that you’ve been crying in for the past two hours, take the advice written in this article, go for a walk, and buy yourself some brightly colored flowers.
Sunflowers are my favorite—they never fail to brighten my day.
3. Call your mom if you didn’t call her before.
Remember during your conversation that deep down, your existence brings her more happiness than anyone else in the entire world. She probably knows that you’re feeling down through creepy mom-intuition, anyways.
