Rain, rain, even more rain and wind on top, short days, less sun … and we are more inside this year, more than we wish probably. November starts, November blues follows… How to survive?
If you cannot change anything, change a perspective. It is you driving your day and not your day driving you.
FROM FEELING DOWN TO A MAKING DECISION TO BOOST YOUR MOOD
You wake up and you feel down straight away – sometimes you need to let yourself be – without trying to change anything. Sometimes it is a matter of deciding to CHANGE IT and not let your mood devastate your day. Take an active decision to boost your mood.
HOW TO?
Ask yourself: What is it actually that will help me do it? What is good in the whole situation? What can I be happy with?
So what is it?
- It may be a warm coffee at home in the morning, before you need to make your way to work. Or a warm coffee before you start your workday from home. You are home… you have a home… “but kids are running around and scream!” – yes, you have kids, breathe in, breath out, breath in…
- Is it a chat with your beloved one or a family member or a friend? Or a good read? Find a blog that you enjoy reading. – “But there is so many of them out there” – chose a topic that interests you genuinely and look for a blog that relates to it. Start with one and only if you do not enjoy it, look for another one. One step at a time. Spend 5min at your coffee, reading what you enjoy.
- You don’t feel like working – it is natural once in a while – whether it is November or not. Focusing attention is helpful. Proactively decide that you want to focus on a particular task and proactively move distracting thoughts to the time when you finish your task.
- And if sadness creeps in as the dusk comes? What brings you comfort? It may be warm tea with cloves and orange, a good read again, a good piece of music or a movie.
- Do you enjoy cooking? Is there anything that you always wanted to cook but you never have? Pick one recipe and go for it. Occupy your mind with something that brings you comfort. If it is a meal requiring longer cooking, plan time wisely, so you are not stuck in the kitchen until 3am in the middle of the working week. If it is a heavy meal, make sure you do not cook it too often as heavy meals might negatively affect your mood and we don’t want that 🙂 – “but the recipe I would chose is long and complicated…” – break it down into smaller pieces, read a recipe carefully, see what tools you need, what ingredients you need, where you need to start from – BABY STEPS!
- Is there any DIY project at home or around home that you have had in mind but you never started it? DIY projects occupy mind very well and if you choose the right topic, they bring you FLOW – you forget about the whole world and you proceed with your project. We have got some DIY ideas for you in Be a UNICORN! Programs.
- How is your fitness level? It may be the idea to occupy yourself and your mind. From yoga to weight lifting – all that you can do at home. No yoga classes? You can go online – try Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube to see if you like it. For weight lifting – you do not need much – if you buy a decent set of weights (or resistance bands) it can serve you well (good quality dumbbells even for a life time). If you are not sure if you stick to it for longer, buy used equipment and if you do not enjoy your training, you can resell it.
- If the weather gets nicer (Melanie got lucky this week, the photo above shows the weather from her area earlier this week!), go for a walk, get some fresh air whenever you can – you never know when it happens next time that the weather is not miserable again. Put some warm clothes on and off you go 🙂
It might not be easy to find your mood-boosting routine, nevertheless already trying few different things will occupy your mind. Once you find out what is exactly that helps you to boost your mood, you will still need to sometimes push yourself and actively press for sticking to the mood boosting plan – in a long run it will help you to program your mind to find positives quicker and to look for comfort quicker.
Yours,
ANGELIKA & MELANIE 🙂