A newfound outlook on life – the aftermath of quarantine

You know the days you wake up and you just know your whole day is gonna go horribly because of that draining feeling in your chest? Maybe it’s a bad weather day or you had to wake up early with only 4 hours of sleep because you were awake watching Youtube nonsense with absolutely no self-control whatsoever. Regardless of the reason, I had one of those days today and let me just tell you — I am not someone who goes through a bad mood in a ladylike manner. As I was going to the dentist and I had already decided that I hated the weather and everything about today, I realized that [plot twist] the weather was actually kind of nice. Something about looking at a rainy weather through a car window just makes me feel safe and calm, maybe it’s because I hate being outside when it’s raining and being in a car protects me from that. Anyways. I started thinking about how we force ourselves to always be in a good mood, for no reason, we just have to always be cheerful and always crack up jokes and not be “a buzzkill” or else people will not want to hang out with you and that makes you not want to hang out with you. But the thing is, it’s not exactly the “bad mood” that frustrates us or makes us cranky enough to complain about every little thing and to constantly remind people to cut you some slack because “it’s just not your day today”. Well as much fun as you may have getting free passes for throwing a fit, it’s not the bad mood that causes you to behave or feel in such ways. It’s the discomfort of it all. The second you wake up and you feel you’re in a bad mood, you start thinking of a million ways on how to get rid of that. You find out that your favorite breakfast just isn’t cutting it so you go ahead and try to talk to your favorite people only to find out that they’re annoying the hell out of you for no reason so you ditch that too, then as a last resort you put on your favorite show and can’t even enjoy it because you’re racking your brain on trying your hardest to enjoy it like you “usually do”. If you maybe just accepted that being in a bad mood is not the end of the world and let yourself feel it rather than trying your hardest to get rid of it, you’d realize that being in a bad mood is actually one of the most serene feelings to exist. It’s the “bad” in bad mood that gives it such a harsh connotation. Think about it, when you’re in a bad mood you don’t have the energy to do all the things you do when you’re upbeat and hyperactive right? Which means you get to be and do very nonchalant things all day because it’s clearly what your mind and body need. And you refusing to give yourself just that, will of course irritate you and have you blame it all on your “bad mood”. When in fact, all you really needed was a day of tranquility and nothingness. So the next time you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, don’t fight it, appreciate it while it lasts before tomorrow with the positive mood comes and all its fun (and tiring) demands.