This morning, I woke up with a mood as gray as the weather outside…
I didn’t wanna go anywhere. I didn’t wanna do anything. And I’m pretty sure that if anyone had tried talking to me, they would have gotten nothing but a big dose of the ‘tude in reply. It was just one of those days; and after breakfast, which always brightens my day, failed to cheer me up in the least, I was ready to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over my head, and stay there until tomorrow.
But I didn’t.
As much as I wanted to, I knew it wouldn’t help me feel any better. Instead, I busied myself with things I thought would help pick me up a little, and they did 😀 So, here’s my recipe for beating off those blues.
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A bit of beautifying…
I don’t care if it seems a little shallow – doing my hair, makeup, and nails always makes me feel better.
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A little laughing…
Shrek Forever After. I didn’t actually expect to like this because the last few were less than stellar, but it gave me some pretty good laughs.
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A smidgen of snuggling…
Yes, I’m a big kid at heart and teddies still make me smile.
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Some sweet snacking…
Chocolate on a bad day is pretty much a given, and some Kashi Honey Sunshine to brighten up the day.
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Many minutes of mindfulness…
Working out was actually the last thing I wanted to do, so I forewent the running and weights and did some yoga instead. Good choice.
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Some soothing scents…
What I wouldn’t do for a Caribbean escape, and that body butter? Smells good enough to eat…
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By the end of the day, the weather hadn’t improved much, but the cloud that was hovering over my head was noticeably lighter and I felt more like my old, happy self again. Hooray! 😀 I hope you’re all having a wonderful night/day, and I’ll see you tomorrow for WIAW.
What are some of the things you do to beat the blues?
Do you think any bad day can be turned around? Or are there certain days that nothing but a good night’s sleep can fix? There are certain days where I can’t improve my mood no matter what I do, but thankfully today wasn’t one of them!
Great thinking, and glad to hear you’re feeling better! All your makeup looks so pretty btw, I wanna come play!
AH YES! i totally get into the beautifying one! totally boosts my mood!.. I also recommend peanut butter and reality tv 🙂
love this post. i am obsessed with candles. i have them all over my house. it is so soothing to be in a room that smells heavenly.
no matter what i do i can never get my makeup routine to take longer than 5-10 minutes! what eye shadow is that??? i love the colors! i also love the NARS orgasm illuminator! it is amazing!
It’s the Naked palette, by Urban Decay 🙂
I have to say forcing myself out of bed, doing my hair, make up and putting on a nice (and colourful) outfit always helps- plus a soundtrack of some good music and like you said a lil chocolate lovin’
That candle smells awesome, I bought it for a friend as part of her B-Day gift! Sometimes spoiling yourself a little or getting made up is what we need on a bad day. Yoga is one of the things i definitely go for when I’m just not feeling a run or any strength training.
Good for you! I think some beautifying, a glass of wine, and/or a good comedy can fix almost any bad day, but you have to have faith in your efforts.
Sounds like you have found the perfect cure for blue days! And I know, a little bit of beautifying and chocolate is sometimes all it takes!
Cant wait for you WIAW Amanda! Yours ar always so yummyyummy 😀
I so needed to see this today, Amanda! Usually I know a bit of beautifying & laughter will pick me up & help me forget how “…. eghhhhh” I feel (just couldn’t think of the right word there!), but I guess my mood was too crumby to remember that! Mission for today is now to relax, ignore the grey skies & indulge in some me-time 🙂
Glad you got yourself out of that little funk! x
Damn, I am SO incredibly jealous of your stunning photography – seriously, you make even ‘normal’ things look like gold! I dream of being that good haha!
Sorry you had a bum day lovely, but at the same time it’s normal and people can’t be happy happy all day everyday like they make out to be round here! I’m actually with Jess on this one and I try and just get through the bad day because maybe it was meant to be and in a good way, it only means that tomorrow has quite a good chance of being better. I do try and cheer myself up with eating my favorite foods, baking and going shopping though but when I’m in a bummy mood, even these can sometimes fail.
Ah I know how this is! I think the beautifying one is the best. If I’m feeling really down I’ll put on some make up and guzzy up my hair and then I feel at least a little better. Good enough to want to go out and see people.
But then again a good cuddle session and a funny movie always helps as well 🙂
Same here–sleep poorly last night and woke up to a case of the morning blues. I read your post and then proceeded to take a comforting shower, drink some hot tea and eat some vegan chocolate chip cookies, and listen to some of my favourite tunes. I’m feeling quite a bit better now–all dressed up and beautified for the day! Pampering oneself is SO important. <3
SO with you!! Pretty much everything you do I do too! Ultimate mood lifter: I run, then I bake cookies/don’t bake them and just eat the dough and watch Friends/Gilmore Girls in my PJs. Never fails 😉
I am sorry you felt down, Amanda. Isn’t it weird how our mood can do a 360 and go from happy to blue/grey without any obvious reason? At times it feels like I’ve been hit by a bus and that there is no point in even getting out of bed.
The way you managed to pick yourself up is amazing, though. You listened to both your body and mind and gave yourself the treatment you needed. I am really proud of you for this, you refused to let whatever went on in your mind destroy a day.
I defintely believe a bad can be turned around if you make a concious effort. Some people seem to want to just drown in their own darkness and not even try to get out of it and fill their heart with light again. That is sad, because even though it can be hard to change our mood it is worth a try.
To beat the blues I usually sit down and talk with myself, trying to figure out why I feel the way I do and then find out what I can do to get out of the dark hole.
Spending time with my dog, reading or painting is also great therapy for me.
Take care love – I’m thinking of you and hope today will be a much easier and brighter day.
<3
I’m so friggin’ glad you’re back 😀
<3
I had a blue day as well yesterday. Well, I have them a lot these days. And what I did? Tried to study, didn’t work. So I just let myself rest, read a book that keeps me occupied, and had a bunch of chocolate. Made me feel so much better 🙂
I had a bad day yesterday, too. I knew I would have an attitude the whole day and today I feel bad about it, but like you said, some days you just can’t really help it. However, most bad day can be turned around. Usually I try to improve my mood with music, a walk outside or a light-hearted movie.
Wow I had a day like that just yesterday and believe you me, I wasn’t a pretty sight. However, like you, prettying myself up does truly lift the mood somewhat no matter how shallow it may seem! I also did some yoga which helped me a little bit. But the big thing for me was watching something funny, like you did. I love to watch British TV shows like QI and The IT Crowd because they never fail to make me laugh out loud. Never.
I think bad days can be turned around *if you want them to.* Some people I think enjoy moping around (if that makes sense) and therefore can’t be bothered to turn their days around.
xxx
Hi!!! I am so glad that you could get rid of that mood, no matter how the weather or other things went! Your ideas on beating the blues are all great! A good workout, lot of healthy but tasty snacks, maybe having my hair done or just putting some homemade mask in it always improves my mood a lot:) Also calling a good friend and going for coffee, painting, playing the piano or reading a good book are my fave activities to get a mood boost:)
I think there are some BAD days that are just bad in general, no matter how hard you try to make them better. It must be something in the air 🙂 But there are not many of these, fortunatelly!
My fave ways to get out of a funky mood include a lot of the ones you listed! Beautifying, getting dressed in something I love, listening to hysterically ridiculous rap, eating delicious things, venting to a friend/mah mom, reading fashion blogs, watching crazy cute youtube vids that involve cuddly animals, cuddling with the pups, watching mindless t.v./ movie… But I also acknowledge that some days are just sh!tty and that’s perfectly fine, too. Chances are I just need a night of sleeping more than five hours, and the next day will be better.
Ugh, I hate feeling like that! But yay for overcoming the blues!
A run or a good sweaty workout always always gets me out of a funk.. in fact, I’m in SERIOUS need of one of those. And if all else fails, a little good chocolate dessert and some Sex and the City helps 🙂
Haha! SATC has actually gotten me out of more funks than I care to mention.
LOVE this. To beat the blues, I simply talk it out with my best friend (you know who by now, haha). And I’m not gonna lie – our emails help me feel better as well 🙂
A good night’s sleep helps too, and focusing on the AMAZING parts of life.
I LOVE that shade of OPI, what’s it called?
I do pretty much the same things to turn my mood around. Getting fresh air outside helps the most though
oh and baking. 🙂
Eep I forgot to mention the nail color! It’s called That’s Hot Pink.
hot tea, yummy food, friends, and a whole lot of sitting around are what I need to beat the blues sometimes. or a good phone sesh with someone i love.
yoga is usually a good choice on days like that too! sometimes a good sweat session is needed for me but usually i try to skip workouts on days when it seems like more of a chore.
So sorry you had a bad day! I can relate to the feeling– those were a general state of being for me for over a year :(. But I’m happy to say I had a fabulous day today! 🙂 When I am feeling down in the dumps,I have a list of relaxing things I refer to (listne to an audio book, get some tea, clean my room). But first, I always have a big play session with my ratties, and, though it doesn’t always completely fix the problem, it gives me a good laugh to watch them and interact with them. i love that animals don’t have all that “mind over matter” thing that humans fall into. They are just themselves and happy to be just that. I admire them so much– they know how to have fun, and I totally aspire to be like that!
Baking/cooking always makes me feel better. I kind of just lose myself in it all and forget all my troubles!
Yoga or exercise usually lifts my mood, but sometimes I just need a good old nap! Hopefully tomorrow will be better for you love!!
What a great day you made it! I’m such a goober for OPI nail polish, I swear I’m addicted haha
Whenever I’m having a downer day, I tend to do a lot of the things you do–especially disney princess movie marathons! I also love coloring with the old school books and crayolas, walk my dogs, and drowning myself in my favorite music at insanely loud levels! 😀
Disney and coloring books! Yes! Totally love doing that.
these are my favorite kind of posts! theres been a few times when ive turned a potentially horrible day into a happy one and i need more reminders to do it more often! i know in the moment going out for a walk or putting on music and dancing feels like a draaaaaagggg but once i do it i always feel better. i keep a mini trampoline/rebounder in the house and force myself to bounce on it for 5-10 minutes when im feeling depressed. it is the best tool i have for getting me out of a funk.. 99.9% of the time:)
plus Shrek = deep belly laughs, which always helps!!
xoxo <3
I totally had the same issue today. Usually running is what I use to beat the blues but today I wasn’t feeling it. It seems every time a bad day comes around, I do something new to turn it around.
This time I took a warm bath, lit some candles and after I watched desperate housewives with my madre. In an hour or so I’m taking my puppy for a walk and that should make it all better 🙂
Baking, prettying myself up a bit, going to yoga and taking my dog for a walk to the beach help lift me out of my blue moods.
I hate when I get like that and I really try to be an optimist but I’m not always. It feels like in the blog world sometimes people try to pretend like they’re just so happy all the time or put up a front like that. It’s just not real life to be happy and upbeat 24/7
Thanks for this post and for always being so real 🙂
I think bad days can definitely be turned around…especially if following your recipe to beating off those blues! Throw in a little baking in there and I’m good as new. It all depends on your attitude and whether or not you’re open to making that day better.
hah, are we on the same page today or what? 😉
beating the blues…i enjoy music, teddie, baking or even running! guess it just depends what i’m blue over.
and i’m sort of…weird…when i get in a mood. i see two options: i can just let it take over and get the “bad day” out of the way and be bummin/miserable almost all day, or I can try to get rid of it. As awful as it sounds, if I wake up in a foul mood, I tend to just let it take over and get it out of the way. It doesn’t happen that often and I kinda feel like everyone is allowed a bad day every so often 😛 it’s better than faking happy…
That’s actually a really good point and I’ve never really thought of it like that. Sometimes we just need to get those bad moods out of the way… I’m gonna use that excuse the next time someone tells me to fake a smile ’till I’m happy 😉
So weird. I just read Jess’s post and it ended with her asking how we beat the blues…
So I’ll tell you what I told her. Baking! Baking always beats the blues. But a bit of pampering works too 🙂 I thought this was a reallycute post, Amanda.
So many of these things are what I would do to beat the blues too. Especially nails, hair, make-up and an animated movie! There are definitely days when no matter what I do, my day can’t be improved. Thankfully they don’t come too often 🙂 Going for a walk with my ipod and listening to my music really loud can significantly improve my mood!
Sorry to hear you had a gloomy day! Some ways I tried to cheer myself up- wearing my favorite sweatshirt and curling up on the couch with a cup of tea and a good book, going for walk in the neighborhood, yoga, Nd definitely lighting my favorite candle from Anthropologie – angel food scent!
Hope tomorrow is a bright and sunny day!
Aimee
Beautifying isn’t shallow in the least–it’s about taking care of yourself!
When I’m in a sour mood, sometimes I find that just letting go and crying does wonders. My mother also told me that crying doesn’t solve anything–wrong!
SO true. There’s nothing like a good cry. But sometimes the tears just won’t come 🙁
Bad days can definitely be turned around! It’s all about your attitude 😉
Great plan to beat the blues!! I totally agree about the beautifying!! When I’m in a funk I like to do my makeup and try new hairstyles. I also like trying on my clothes and putting together outfits 🙂
P.s. You inspired my dinner last night!!
I saw that! It looked SO tasty! 😀
Yep, today was a snarky day on this end. I have a feeling the next couple of days might be, as well. 😉
Totally random, but I have that Givenchy perfume too… I have a sort of fragrance addiction. I suppose that does make me happy!!
<3 <3
Ugh, I feel lik this everyday. It can be a truly serious thing to overcome.
I never saw that Shrek one, would be a good idea for a blue day for sure.
I also love snuggly stuffed animals 🙂