As I sit here, shoving my face with Goldfish and drowning myself in coffee, I'm reflecting on this past week and all I really want to do is punch someone in the face. It's been one of those weeks where almost everything that can go wrong, does. These are the weeks that I wish I could curl up in bed and sleep until a new one begins. People have been annoying, mean, and incompetent, and little things keep going wrong, escalating to bigger things. The sooner this week is over, the happier I'll be. But, by the time you read this, this week will be over and you can all rest easy knowing that I'm in a much better mood as you read this versus when I wrote it. So, that's one bright side to this dreary, gloomy, grumpy week.
We all have these days and weeks. The hardest part is trying to figure out how to deal with it. Although I am not a professional in this area, as I'm sure anyone who knows me is ready and willing to pounce at the opportunity to tell you I'm no picnic when I'm upset, I have compiled a list of things I do (when I remember) when I'm having a horrible day/week. I encourage you to try one you may have never tried before. You never know, maybe it will become the best deflection to a bad day.
1. Turn on your favorite song and dance your butt off.
Blast it. Dance around your room, your house, but please not your neighborhood. Let all of the bad vibes jump right out of you as you shimmy and shake around, belting the lyrics as if you'll never sing ever again. At the end of the song, chances are you'll feel refreshed and you'll be panting. If neither are true, turn on another song and have at it.
2. Treat yourself to your favorite food.
Food can be comfort. Period. Shove your face with chips, cookies, candy, whatever. Sometimes you just need that delicious taste of your favorite food to warm up your insides and make you feel even the slightest bit better.
3. Curl up in bed and watch a movie.
Remove yourself from everything around you, find somewhere you can be alone, and watch a movie. Getting lost in someone else's life is a great thing when you're sick of your own. It'll take your thoughts off your problems within minutes. Sometimes all we need is a breather.
4. Vent.
To a friend, your mom, a dog, anyone. Let it out. Be careful not to hurt the person you're venting to in the process (my issue). Letting it all out can be a productive way of getting over it, moving on, or just releasing some anger.
5. Work out.
Working out when you're angry or upset is the best. You work out harder, faster, and more aggressively to the point where you can't breathe when it's all over. Halfway through, you'll realize you're so into working out that you forgot about what you were even upset about. Bonus: you're doing something great for your body so your body will look great.
6. Take a nap.
Because the best way to forget about something is to be unconscious. You can't think about it if you're not awake. I've found that when I'm upset and take a nap, I wake up without any negativity. My body released it. It's then up to me to not bring it back through my own thoughts.
7. Create a proactive game plan.
When it feels as though my life is falling apart, I often create a game plan of what I can do to put some of the pieces back together. I think it through logically and rationally, write it down, and then do it. The most important step is actually doing it. Doing something to avoid ever having to be upset about that same thing again is worth the effort.
8. Don't egg yourself on.
I do this. Boy, do I do this. When one thing makes me mad, I find other things that make me mad. This continues until I'm so wound up that I can't think clearly. This one is hard to avoid because, in the heat of the moment, if we're already upset then the littlest things will make us even more so. We need to stop ourselves, realize what we're actually upset about, and leave everything/everyone else out of it.
9. Write.
This is another form of venting. Grab some paper and a pen, or your computer, and write. Write anything and everything that comes to mind. Leave it all on the paper. I have hundreds of pages on my USB and notebooks packed full of my thoughts when I'm upset. No one has to read any of it. It's just for you. You can shred it or hit "delete" when you're done, or you can save it like I do. Either way, it helps.
