♪ Wake up one morning you realise, life is one big compromise… ♪
Image via Google images
These may be lyrics from Laura Izibor’s ‘Shine’, but true enough some mornings you wake up and within thirty seconds you know it’s going to be a bad day. The sky seems darker, the ceiling smaller and three steps down the stairs you’re near tears. What do you do?
Option 1: Get into your Westlife ’07 t-shirt, Hello Kitty bottoms and lye in bed watching Gossip Girl, wishing you were part of the Upper East Side.
Option 2: Kick this bad mood in the ass and choose to be happy.
As appealing as Option 1 sounds, and as much as some days call for a Gossip Girl marathon, Option 2 is what’s going to get you out of this mood and let you make the most of the day. It’s by no means an easy thing to do, but it is 100% worth it. Making the decision to get back to feeling yourself is half the journey, so to make it the rest of the way here are some tips that work for me and will hopefully bring a smile to some of your faces. Happiness is a state of mind, so do what makes you happy and do things you enjoy – what works for me mightn’t work for everyone, but at the end of the day, no one knows how to make you happy better than yourself, so go for a run, eat some chocolate, watch videos online of pandas sneezing – it’s up to you!
1. Breathe: If you wake up in a bad mood, chances are your fists will be subconsciously clenched, your shoulders will be hunched over and you’ll have a frown on your face that would make Grumpy Cat look happy. So relax your hands, roll back your shoulders and turn that frown upside down. Take a deep breath, close your eyes and exhaaaale. Not feeling it yet? Hang on in there.
2. Put down the phone: When you feel like your life is less than favourable, you’re sick of the look of everything in your house and the most exciting thing that’s happened to you recently is buying a new box of cereal, looking at X, Y and Z’s Facebook statuses, tweets and Instagram posts about their holiday to Barcelona with their boyfriend, how much they love their new Mulberry bag and their latest success is only going to make you feel worse. Get off all social media and focus on what you’re doing, in your life there’s nothing more important than what you are doing, so before you lose fifty minutes on a social network rampage, put down your phone, close the laptop and enter the real world.
3. Eat: You’re going to need some fuel to get you going for the day, but I’m not going to try and convince you to eat organic porridge with Manuka honey and fresh berries picked from your back garden. While it is proven that what you eat affects your mood, and wholegrain foods and vegetables will be more chemically beneficial to your mind and body, sometimes nothing beats a huge bowl of Coco Pops, Nutella on toast and a Pop Tart. One spoonful of chocolately goodness can sometimes bring more happiness than fresh berries and porridge ever could. Try not to over do it though, too much sugar and you’ll be likely to crash – remember our goal here!
4. Get dressed: And no, getting dressed doesn’t mean get into a fresh pair of pyjamas. Put on your favourite jeans and a comfy jumper, or a dress that reminds you of a really good day. The bottom line is, put on something that makes you feel great. Just like how wearing a top that you don’t like has the ability to put you in a bad mood, wearing something that you feel comfortable in can make or break how you feel. After all, we all know the power of an amazing dress, and one of the main reasons we buy nice clothes is to make ourselves feel good.
5. Get out and do something: Staying inside all day is going to do nothing for your mood, except make it worse. Simple. Your mind will be racing, you’ll feel more irritable and chances are you’ll be in bed before Coronation Street is over, feeling 100 times worse than you did when you woke up. Even if it’s for twenty minutes, try to get out of the house, whether it be to go to the shops to buy ingredients to bake a triple fudge cake, meet up with a friend or run like Forrest Gump. You could get something done that’s been on your to-do list for weeks, or simply sit in Starbucks and catch up on your favourite blogs 😉 Whatever it is, it will take your mind off whatever made you feel down in the first place and remind you that life goes on beyond the walls of your house, even if it’s only momentarily.
6. Let it out: Cheese graters at the ready – one of the best and most important things you can do when you’re feeling down or just plain angry is let it out. Talk to your best friend, your gran or write it down, whatever suits you. Rant away about how unfair life is to your dad and by the end of it you’re almost guaranteed to feel an improvement. A problem shared is a problem halved, and a problem shared over tea and biscuits is almost no problem at all, so try and write down or talk about whatever’s bothering you, or even make a plan yourself about how you can try to improve it and make it better.
These are just some of the steps I take on a day when I’m feeling less than my usual self, although they won’t necessarily take your problems away and change your life, they more than likely will lift your mood and make the day more bearable and enjoyable. As I said, do little things that make you happy, and almost guaranteed you will start to feel better.
This may have just been a ramble to some, but hopefully even one person will benefit from reading this. Stay tuned for usual beauty and fashion posts during the week and, of course, Share a Smile Sundays #2.
My taste of happiness on a Sunday – Cosmo, (a few) Ferrero Rochers, tea and a Yankee candle