how do you cheer yourself up on a bad day?

[Pyrrho]

Wallow in the despair

I think this is underrated.  Sometimes, when one is depressed, cheerful things can be annoying.  On those occasions, I have found that just going with the emotion for a while, to exercise it a bit, helps lessen it and eventually helps one get rid of it.

In the past, one of my favorite ways of doing this is to put on a good recording of Mozart's Requiem (I like the one conducted by Peter Schreier), playing it fairly loudly, letting the depressing music wash over me, as it were.

(I suppose that is the equivalent of what some people mean when they say they have a good cry.)

I have not needed to do this in many years now, but it is what I would do if trying the direct cheerful things failed.



Exercise is a good thing, too, to help.  Getting physically tired from a very long walk, or run, or whatever, can help one get some sleep and feel better in the morning.

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Sharing the despair with a friend with the goal of pulling them in to it

Not good.