how do you cheer yourself up on a bad day?

[Twisted]

I usually don't let my emotions get the best of me but i am feeling kind of off for a few days

[Alex K]

Going running, music, good food, a stupid movie.

[vorlon13]

Wallow in the despair

[Longhorn]

Funny shit, dumb flicks, uplifting songs, talking to rad people, taking out the frustration by sports

[thesummerqueen]

Sex (Obviously of the BDSM variety). One of the reasons I like it is because it puts me in a different mental state for a little while, so that when I come back to the "real world" I have a little perspective. It helps weeds out some stupid stuff.

Running. I use a the Zombies, Run! 5k trainer. The story keeps my brain going, and I keep the background music poppy and peppy.

Take on a smallish task that you know you can accomplish. Maybe take on a couple of them. Getting them finished is a weird placebo for feeling like you can fix other shit in your life.

Singing (in private) to favorite music.

Playing with the dog.

[vorlon13]

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

[Alex K]

Take on a smallish task that you know you can accomplish. Maybe take on a couple of them. Getting them finished is a weird placebo for feeling like you can fix other shit in your life.

I've noticed this effect as well. Isn't it strange how that works? If I feel like my work is going badly and my life is a mess, doing the dishes, cleaning up the living room and/or vacuuming will instantly make me feel like everything is kind of under control after all.

[thesummerqueen]

Take on a smallish task that you know you can accomplish. Maybe take on a couple of them. Getting them finished is a weird placebo for feeling like you can fix other shit in your life.

I've noticed this effect as well. Isn't it strange how that works? If I feel like my work is going badly and my life is a mess, doing the dishes, cleaning up the living room and/or vacuuming will instantly make me feel like everything is kind of under control after all.

It's why I often come home and refuse to go out with people after a bad day, but instead clean my rooms and wipe surfaces down. I sleep easier knowing that I can find everything (as opposed to digging through piles) and that the dog can't get into anything (because everything is put away). And it's a good exercise in how accomplishing small things can create good habits for accomplishing larger ones.

[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.

[Iroscato]

Muse on the size of the cosmos - its scale, its majesty, its age, its density. Consider our place in it, this tiny blue rock neatly packed away in one little corner of one average-sized galaxy.
Feel scared. Feel unburdened. Feel better.

Smoke weed, but just a little.

Do both at once.

Report on your findings.