6 Things to Do When You're in a Bad Mood

#1: Broadcast your emotions.

Before you go any further, take time to think about those around you. You want to eliminate collateral damage, be emotionally responsible and hopefully get the support that you need. Here you want to broadcast your emotions, telling your partner, your roommate, or your friend that you’re in a bad mood, so you just don’t snap or sulk, have them run for cover, and leave them wondering what is going on. But also tell them what you need and want them to do: leave you alone for an hour, give you a hug, or just listen to you vent. Figure it out and let them know.

#2: Play detective.

Here you want to be curious about what is going on. Why now/today rather than before/yesterday? What might have triggered this—the lack of sleep, you’re hungry and irritable, worried about the presentation, or still angry about an argument with your partner?

What are you thinking about? Emotions follow thoughts. Sometimes it is difficult to be aware of your thoughts, especially if you lean toward physical symptoms. But again, play detective, be curious, slow down, and see if you can be aware of what your head is swirling around. Are there problems to fix? The goal is to know yourself better by identifying your most sensitive triggers and solving problems that fuel your bad mood.

#3: Solve minor problems.

If there are problems to fix, go for the low-hanging fruit. Tired? Take a nap. Hungry? Eat. Not sure about the check-in time for the presentation? Find out.

#4: Avoid making big decisions.

Taking a nap, eating, and checking in about the presentation time get these small problems off your plate. But if you’re still fuming after the argument with your partner, yes, go ahead and plan a follow-up but put off talking about it till you’re emotionally settled; more importantly, ignore any rabbit-hole thoughts about breaking up. Ditto for deciding that presentations are not your thing and therefore you need to quit your job.

When you’re emotional, it’s easy to get tunnel vision; your emotional brain jumps to black-and-white thinking, radical solutions; it’s like making decisions when you’re drunk and likely decisions that you will later regret. Though your emotional brain is trying to pull you in, step back and realize what your brain is doing. Tell yourself this is not a good time to act. Wait till your rational brain comes back online. Talk tomorrow; sleep on it.

#5: Settle your emotional brain.

If you’ve cleared out the minor problems and put off the big ones, time to take action to simply calm down. Try these:

• Meditation: Listen to an app or not. Ten to fifteen minutes is often all you need to settle.
• Write down how you feel: This is about getting stuff out of your head and not continuing to obsess. Do it for no more than ten minutes so you don’t go down the rabbit hole.
• Exercise. Another case of ten minutes. It doesn’t take much for even simple exercise—walking, calisthenics—to get endorphins to kick in and help you feel better.
• Do mindful activities. Again, about getting out of your head and mindful activities are great at doing that. Here you play your favorite videogame or do needlepoint, play the piano, draw, prep dinner—something that occupies your attention fully.
• Sleep. A 20-minute nap, an early-to-bed night. Sleep helps your brain reboot, does the garbage collection that removes the junk of the day, and restores your body to default. Your rational brain comes back online.

#6: Know that this will pass.

Our moods go up and down for a lot of good reasons over a day. You want to learn how to surf your moods with awareness and action but also patience—knowing that if you likely do nothing at all, your mood will change.

Read the complete article available at Psychology Today!

Reflection:

What do you usually do when you're in a bad mood?

#Mood #Emotions #EmotionalRegulation

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