We’re not always capable of maintaining a positive and uplifting mood as things can happen that are beyond our control.
You can’t always control what we feel, but we do have a say in what we respond to in those moments.
When you’re feeling down, there are always ways to improve your mood and help you to avoid dwelling in whatever you’re feeling.
Having a bad day doesn’t equate to having a bad life and this is so important to remember. In this article, we’ll be talking about 10 essential things to do when you’re feeling down.
10 Essential Things To Do When You’re Feeling Down
1. Listen to music
No matter the genre, music can lift up your spirit as it can describe the words that you’re feeling in the form of a song.
Listening to upbeat songs specifically can lighten your mood and help you feel lighter.
2. Eat nutritious
Your body shouldn’t suffer just because you’re feeling down. In fact, eating nutritious
If you end up binging on unhealthy
3. Do something spontaneous
When we say spontaneous, this doesn’t refer to unhealthy and impulsive activities like binge-drinking on alcohol or doing something that can hurt someone or yourself.
Rather, let yourself go on an adventure such as going to the beach or surprising a friend for a visit.
These are great ways to lift your spirit and improve your mood for the day.
4. Play with your pets
If you have an animal with you, these furry friends of yours can make you feel better as you play with them.
Take them for a walk, pet them, and even cuddle with them if you’d like. If you don’t have a pet, visit a friend who has one and you can walk their pet together.
After all, it isn’t a good idea to be alone when you’re not in a good mood.
5. Take yourself outside
It doesn’t matter where you go, but being outside is a much better option rather than staying stuck at home when you’re not in a good mood.
Staying stuck in one environment for prolonged periods isn’t good for your sanity and won’t help you feel much better.
When you expose yourself to people and different environments, this can alleviate the foul mood you’re in.
6. Realize that feeling down won’t last forever
When it comes down to it, you won’t feel this way forever so you should just let the feeling pass while you can.
The more you dwell on the fact that you’re in a bad mood, the worse it will get so just accept your feelings as what they are and find comfort that they’ll eventually pass.
It’s just a bad day and not a bad life – the sooner you accept that, the better.
7. Take pictures
It doesn’t matter whether you take pictures of yourself, of nature, or of anything you gain attention from.
Photography is a great way to shift your perspective and even out your art to use.
You’re not just taking pictures for the sake of taking them, but you’re taking them to express what you feel and to capture a feeling and a moment.
8. Take time to self-reflect
Ask yourself the question of what caused you to be in a bad mood. Was it something you could control or was it something out of your control?
If it’s something you can do something about, don’t hesitate to do so.
However, if it’s beyond your control, realize that even if you tried, you can’t always have the upper hand with controlling everything in your life.
There will always be things that happen that we don’t agree with and that’s okay – it’s just part of life.
9. Learn to prioritize
It’s possible to feel that way because your life is out of balance and you feel as if your priorities are all messed up.
When this is the case, learn to put your priorities back in order and make a list if this will help you.
Having a well-balanced life really helps you improve your mood so learn to reflect on your priorities every now and then.
10. Find the silver lining in things
Even if you aren’t naturally an optimist, you can always find something positive in a negative situation.
For instance, if the reason for your bad mood is that you failed a job interview, you could at least find joy in the experience and realize that maybe it wasn’t the right job for you because something better is coming along.
There will always be a silver lining in situations but you just have to find it and change your perspective.
Improving Your Mood Going Forward
You will never gain full control of your mood, but you will gain a better understanding and coping mechanisms on what to do when that happens.
There will always be things you can do to improve your mood on a particularly bad day, such as the things mentioned above.
Another strategy is to accept the fact that the combination of good days and bad days is what comprises life.
Without bad days, you can never be fully appreciative of bad days so it comes with that package.
Moving forward, remember to go easy on yourself on harsh days and to stop blaming yourself for everything. It’s not always going to be yourself – sometimes, it’s just life being life.
Final Thoughts
I hope this article was able to shed insight into everything you needed to know about feeling down.
Nobody likes the idea of feeling down because as much as possible, we like to be happy and joyful about our days.
However, this isn’t the reality of things and sometimes things will happen that you aren’t okay with. Let yourself feel down and know that this feeling of yours will pass eventually.