We’ve all been there…a bad mood, bad day, maybe a bad month or even a bad year.

I recently had a couple of hard weeks. They were just bad!  We had just moved across the country to a small town. I had to leave sunny California, all my besties, family, work and all that vitamin D (a.k.a. sunshine = happiness). Needless to say, this was no easy ordeal for me. During this time, I found it easy to linger in the past and dream of the future, but that was not doing my present much justice. I was not okay with wishing my life away.

Here’s how I got through.

Whenever I found my mind wandering, I would take some deep breaths and begin to repeat, “I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now.”

At bedtime my mind would begin to race and negatively affect my sleep. I would lay awake and worry and feel even crappier the next morning, which did not help my situation. So I started meditating myself to sleep.

I would think of people I love, people I miss or people who were going through hard times. I’d breathe deep and send them blessings. Sometimes I would picture the most serene place I could imagine and just “be” there. Sometimes I would meditate on the way I wanted my life to be.

I am no meditation expert; I have no formal training. I just know it works!

I ate “Nature’s Prozac” before bed or as a snack. This is half of a banana and cashews. Together they are medicinal and help to relieve the blues.

I logged off.

Spending too much time on social media was a consistent reminder that everyone else had a perfect life and mine sucked. We all know that’s not true, but too much Facebook time can certainly make us feel that way. Instead, I read, worked out, cooked new dishes, practiced yoga poses I wanted to nail…pretty much anything that kept me away from the screen.

After a day or so of this, staying busy became automatic, and my addiction was broken. I felt much better. If you have issues with this, set some non-negotiable parameters around the time you spend on social media. For example, sometimes I take a week off and then allow myself to “catch up” for 30 to 60 minutes on Saturday, or maybe only allow 15 minutes each day.

I also give the support I’d like to receive. I “like”, “favorite”, “retweet” and “pin” my friends’ posts. Share the love, and receive the love in return!

I practiced gratitude.

I was thankful for my circumstances, because I was certain that they would teach me something. I also volunteered. It was fulfilling for me and reminded me that I was just a small piece of a much bigger world. It helped lift me above my own situation so I could spend my energy loving others. (Again, we receive what we give!)

Lastly, I was careful not to find comfort in food (or my other potential addictions). The sugar in comfort foods deplete B vitamins in our system and wreaks havoc on our liver, which means we’re low energy and in a lousy mood (not good on top of the hard time we’re having).

I had to be really honest with myself to prevent emotional eating.

When I wanted to eat, I would drink a tall glass of water and busy myself. I’d paint my nails, don a face mask, and/or focus on something that would improve me or my life in some way. I’d turn negative feelings into positive ones, forget about food, and feel better in some way about what I had accomplished, even if it was just pretty nails.

 

 

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Asst. Ed.: Jane Henderling/Ed: Bryonie Wise