Five Ways To Beat A Bad Mood

A bad mood squelches any possibility of having fun, and often gets in the way of making more money. After all, you're not going to be savoring the moment if you'd rather be home in bed with the covers over your face. As for making more money, you're sure as heck not going to be succesful on the phone practicing your latest "sell, sell, sell" strategy, at a cafe brainstorming your next venture, or in a meeting strengthening your client relationships if you'd rather be. . . well, at home in bed with the covers over your face.

It sounds obvious to say that bad moods are bad for you, but all too often we get stuck in a funk and forget to get ourselves out of it. Without a set strategy to help us out of the swamp, it's easy to get trapped in a bad mood for hours, or even days. That's a real waste, especially since with the right tools you can fight your way out of a bad mood pretty quickly.

Here are five ways to get rid of a terrible mood fast so that you're free to enjoy your day.

1. Wash yourself.
When you feel like you look good, you're more likely to feel good. No matter whether you're a librarian or a metro guy or a lumberjack or a prom queen, you're probably at least a little bit vain. That's bad news for your moral character, but it's great news if you're in a bad mood, because it means that taking a shower and putting on a nice pair of slacks will probably soothe your angst.

2. Distract yourself.
Turn on a favorite movie, album, tv show. Open a favorite magazine. Get a friend to tell you really terrible jokes. Jump up and down a hundred times. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you shake it up: if you can focus on the task at hand, you'll forget all about your bad mood.

3. Eat something.
Now, I'm not advocating grabbing three dozen donuts to drown your sorrows in, but I am advocating keeping your blood sugar steady. Often, a bad mood is the result of a blood sugar crash from going too long without food. Have a piece of whole wheat toast, and you may discover that the demons torturing you were just plain old hunger. Don't be embarassed if this turns out to be the case: a lot of grownups are surprisingly un-adept at knowing when to break for snacktime.

4. Research more fixes.
Finding new and better ways to trick yourself out of the gloom is a positive, decisive action that can in and of itself help you start to feel better. If you feel warm towards my writing, or too lazy to find something better, you could start your quest with this article of mine, which features some very Fast Fixes For A Bad Mood

5. Pass the buck.
When all else fails, blame someone who is far, far away and can't defend themselves. If you can convince yourself that you're not to blame for feeling bad, it will be easier to cheer up. Once you're in a better mood, you can forgive your "villain."

By the time you've worked through one or two of the ideas in this toolkit of instant fixes, you'll be out of your bad mood and ready to have a better rest of your day.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great tips! I definitely find taking a shower or even wetting my hair or face makes a big difference.

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