98% of the time, I’m a happy and content person. But a couple of weeks ago, I was SAD. Out of nowhere, a friend decided to stop being friends with me. Not because of anything I did, but still. It sucked. And then things just kept happening that made me sad.

And then that turned into me being sad for really no reason. I couldn’t shake it.

There were even a couple of days that I just wanted to lay in bed and not really do anything.

Pretty pathetic, right?!

I let myself do the bed thing for a few hours. It’s okay to feel different emotions. No one can feel happy all of the time.

I give myself permission to feel negative emotions. But then, I cut it off. I put a cap on it.
I force myself to move forward.

Maybe it’s because of the Jim Rohn quote “you’re not a tree.”

You are not stuck. You can change things.

So, I decided to force myself out of the funk.

Here are some things I did to snap out of it:

Give yourself permission to feel a little crappy for awhile

It's okay to lie in bed and eat a jar of Nutella. And maybe accidentally get some of it in your hair (it brings out the color in your eyes).

I'm pretty sure the Nutella was trying to say "Yo' girl, you just rock your onesie and chill out in bed for a few hours and let me heal your heart while you make love to the spoon."

I'm just trying to say it’s normal and even healthy to feel sad sometimes. Beating yourself up about feeling down it will only make you feel worse. There’s a season for everything.

And being sad is a great excuse to justify eating a jar of Nutella (does that need justification, though?).

Get out of your head and don’t focus on your own problems. Focus on others.

After planning for months to go to an orphanage… but never actually getting around to it…I decided there’s no better time than when you’re feeling down and don't really want to do anything.

Plus the Nutella jar was empty so there was nothing left to do.

Honestly, I didn't go to the orphanage to help me feel less sad. It just happened to work out that I went on a sad day (you have to pre-schedule visits).

There are a lot of reasons I wanted to go to the orphanage that has nothing to do with me, but that's not what this post is about.

I'm just saying focusing less on yourself and more on others has the ironically surprising added bonus of making you feel better because it's not all about you anymore.

Spend time with other people

You can’t do life alone. That’s a quote that I’ve heard somewhere and I think it’s a great reminder to spend time with others, especially coming from a culture that values independence as much as the US does. And in a social media driven-world, that ironically seems to make people LESS social.

I value independence. But I also think there’s a lot to learn from other cultures that help each other out more and are okay with leaning on others in times of need.

All I know is, humans are inherently social creatures. Even introverts need the occasional social interaction (keyword: occasional)!

I realized that I had worked for a straight month and a half without taking one day off for a break. I hadn’t been seeing friends.

It was affecting my mood and I'd been too busy to realize it.

So I changed that immediately!!! I texted a friend and made dinner plans.

Then I joined a charity planning event. Then I got invited out by a girl on the planning committee. Then we had fun on the night out so I got invited to brunch the next day.

Since all of this was the weekend, I said yes! And saying yes has already led to some kind of cool opportunities...

...which brings me to my next point!

Take A Break

Maybe you’re working too hard and need to take a break. I think taking 1 day off per week is really important for our mental health!

Like I said a second ago, working too much without any breaks to interact with someone other than the gecko in my room was affecting me a little without realizing it.

I forced myself to take one day off, and I feel not only happier, but also more productive on the day that I do go back to work.

Do something that makes you happy

I can’t hear a song with a good beat and NOT want to dance. So I went dancing!!! I haven’t gone dancing (other than in my bedroom) for months! Which is crazy, because dancing is something that makes me happy!!!

I also love art! I love painting. Drawing. Designing. Creating. Coloring. There’s something really relaxing about coloring. I enjoy it…so I did it!!! AND, I did it with a friend!

I combined two things on my list so that I could double punch that funky mood in the face!!

Get Some Sunshine If You Can

Sun makes you happy. But just in small doses. Too much sun makes me burn, which then makes me less happy and probably increases my chances of skin cancer.

Get Out In Nature

The ocean ALWAYS makes me happier after I see it. Hiking always makes me feel great. There's just something about getting out in nature that just = happiness. It's like invisible nature happy crack drugs or something.

What are some things you do to feel better when you're feeling down about something?

Or maybe you're like my dad. I don't think he's ever been down before. But maybe he's a crazy outlier, I don't know. Like I said, I'm happy too 98% of the time.

After doing all of these things I mentioned, I'm 100% back to my happy self!