Unexplainable Bad Days

It is a cold, gray, rainy/snowy day in Ohio. The weather combined with the fact that it is a Monday after a 4 day holiday weekend and I have found myself in a bad mood. Bad moods sometimes just happen. You know the kind when you just wake up feeling crabby and you don't want to get out of bed. When you finally drag yourself out of the warm cozy bed everything appears to go wrong or maybe nothing goes wrong I just see it as ALL going wrong.

I was thinking today that many people believe (and I use to be one of them) that if they are living intentionally or on purpose they won't have bad days. The belief goes that if I am living my values, or trying to make choices that fit my intentions and long term goals--I won't have a bad day. But in reality we are human--there are going to be times when the weather is terrible and I have to work so I can't spend the day hanging with my friends and family. No matter what I do I can't change that--I have found the best way to handle a bad mood is to just admit I am in one. If I stop trying to 'cheer' myself up or talk myself out of it--it only gets worse. It is the days when I am intentional about my mood--when I am aware that I am in a MOOD and I just allow myself to feel it--to feel the sadness or anger or anxiety or frustration or annoyance. To just experience it. Today that included scribbling in my journal, crying, cranking up some 'bitter music' and just letting out my mood. It also included a workout which I DID NOT want to do but was a great release of my mood. So moral of the story is that unexplainable bad moods happen--it is our job as human beings to recognize our mood and make a choice about it--we can ignore it--stuff it with food/alcohol/shopping--'cheer ourselves' up or we can decide you know what today is a bad day so I am going to express my emotions safely and get through it.

As always a couple of caveats-when I say embrace your mood I don't mean kick the cat or yell at your partner. I mean accept the fact that today you aren't feeling it, and allow yourself to process the emotions as they come. Pay attention if anger comes up or fear or anxiety or sadness. Safely process your mood--talk to a friend, write in a journal, workout etc. Secondly unexplainable bad days do happen but if you have more than one or two in a row then perhaps something else is going and that is worth looking into with a professional.

The beauty of it is that tomorrow is another day.