Day 2 of good mood week, and I am trying VERY hard to keep a happy face, but, as always, that's not easy for me. So I have a question for people who have a naturally sunny disposition: do you have bad things go wrong all day long (like moi), and you just happen to have a stronger ability to deal with it than I do, or do you usually have such good luck that there's simply nothing to be blue about? I'm really curious! If you do have awful luck and manage to overcome it each day, any tips?
Anyway, I've just poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice and I'm going to take some deep breaths and try not to let anything get to me. My printer, my brother, the weather, the UK immigration department and life in general are really testing my patience today so it'll take a lot of grapefruit juice and happy music to keep me feeling remotely bubbly.
Oh, and I decided I'm going to draw some of my "cheer up" posts instead of finding photos online, I thought that would be fun! :)
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9 comments:
I inherited my mother's erratic emotions, so I'm not 100% chipper all the time, but I do smile and laugh every single day and I am pretty upbeat. And as you know, I have my moments, but for the most part I have a sunny disposition.
You remind me very much of myself at my age. With that said, at your age I think I took things more seriously than I do today. And my beau, who is 7-1/2 years older than me, takes things even less seriously than I do. As you grow older, the small annoying things matter less and less. Maybe it's because with the years, as they pass, we see how precious life is and how fleeting it is. So having bad things happen, can be a good thing because they are happening and we are experiencing them. And the happy part of that is, we are around to take the good with the bad.
I know this sounds morbid but it's true. I think now at 29 a lot fewer things get to me than before and I'm sure by the time I'm 35 I'll have mellowed out even more.
Your luck isn't that bad. I have a friend who just had her car totalled by a drunk driver, has a bad relationship with her parents, has had 3 friends die within a short period of time, has numerous health problems, had to leave her last job because of harassment, is saddled with incredible debt (like hundreds of thousands), but she still manages to get through it all with a sunny disposition.
Oh bad things happen all the time, usually at work, often at home and with the family, but I just let them roll off me. If it's caused by something out of my control, I really don't stress over it any more. I used to be a very uptight, in a hurry driver, now -- stuck in LA traffic? Who cares! It's out of my control. All I can do is leave earlier to make sure I'm where ever I need to be on time.
But I have to say the same thing as Raquelle -- you remind me of me at that age! I used to be very down over everything. And she's right... the older you get, the more none of those things seem to matter. I'm now in my early forties and I have never been happier than where I'm at right now. Life is far too short to get upset over most things.
Oops! I meant to say you remind me of myself at your age. Sorry about that!
I like what DKoren has to say. Bad things keep happening you just have to let them roll off your back.
Being mostly English and German, I inherited a stiff upper lip and a stubborn streak a mile long. For that reason, when things go wrong, I am usually able to go about my business. Of course, there are those times....
^also english and german (and a few other things) so much the same countenance. i generally adopt a que sera sera mentality and the day generally goes much smoother when i let small frustrations roll by.
It does get easier with getting older! I think the passage of time allows a day's frustrations to be put into perspective -- you realize that with most things, "this too shall pass," and why let it ruin your day? I also think with the passage of time one realizes that there will *always* be challenges, so you can either let it beat you down or you can deal and move on. I think when I was younger I had a habit of thinking "If I could just get X, Y or Z over with, then life would be perfect." But when X, Y or Z were dealt with, somehow A, B and C popped up!
I learned a lot from my husband the first few years we were together about being able to get up and deal with a problem without letting it affect my entire mood. I try to mentally "box" certain issues and pull them out to deal with them, rather than letting them dominate my day.
Some days are harder than others -- yesterday I had to deal with several unpleasant tasks -- but I try to keep a "steady ship" to the greatest extent possible. One of the ways I do this is by mentally planning on several pleasant things to do during the day, even if it's taking ten minutes to have a snack and read the paper. I also plot out how to deal with unpleasant things in small, manageable bites. I've also found that writing down things bothering me or a list of goals to deal with something helps me then not spend so much time dwelling on it, once it's on paper.
Good luck to you!!
Best wishes,
Laura
Well, this is not a good week to gauge for me...I had a root canal done Monday, and still pretty out of it...should be back at work by Thursday...but, on an 'average' week, it's not too hard for me to stay 'upbeat'.
It's weird how one 'bad incident' can override a number of good ones you have on the same day; you have to just not dwell too much on either result.
The old 'most things you worry about never come to pass, or aren't near as bad as you fear' philosophy is a pretty good one to remember...the unknown is the biggest hangup we all have... Heck, I will say that the root canal (my first...hopefully last :-x )was not 'fun', by any stretch, but it was not unbearable, either... now I can say, 'Been There, Done That'...
All that to say, over time, and experiences, one hopefully can understand the important stuff, not get as hung up on the 'little things', thus keeping a better outlook on life...it is TOUGH sometimes, sure, but is really the best option, believe me...
Thanks, KG!!!
VKMfan
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My advice may not be the most helpful to you because it seems that I'm a lot younger than everyone else who has commented so far. I have less experience to draw on when discussing the "things get easier as you get older" issue, but I've seen a pretty good share of bad days.
Two things help me through a bad day/week/year: faith in God and a good sense of humor. I've learned that I can't control my life (if I tried, I'd go crazy!). Only the Lord can do that. I don't know if you agree with my beliefs, but you asked how I deal with bad days and if I didn't mention faith, I'd be lying to you because it's a large part of how I get through a rough patch. As for humor: if I can't laugh about the bad things, again, I'd go crazy.
Unexpected or bad things happen all the time that can turn my day upside down. One of the best ways to deal with it is to find something in the situation to laugh about and just go with the flow - let it roll off you, like DKoren said. If you let yourself get into a knot about one little thing, it's not good for you as a person.
Hope things start getting better for you soon!
- Amanda
I do find that when you start off with a bad day (alarm doesn't go off, wake with a headache) the day seems to accumulate more bad stuff! So if I find myself falling in a bad mood vortex, I try to take a breather- listen to happy music, eat my favorite pumpkin bread- and once I'm back to sunniness, I really do have better luck! I just need to stop the chain reaction!
Hope you get a ton of good luck soon!
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