Bad Mood Rising

[dougo]

Here's an informal poll: What do you usually do to get out of a bad mood?

Comments

[atomic-usagi.livejournal.com]

exercise is a pretty flawless solution for me

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

If I can't beat somebody up, going for a run will do.

[nosrednayduj]

Make cookies. Chocolate chip works the best.

[stoneself.livejournal.com]

i go to the gym

given how much i write, you'd think a verbal dump would help. that just makes me crankier.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Is it the making or the eating that's important?

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

kayak!

[nosrednayduj]

Mostly the making. Especially the tastes of the dough as each ingredient is added. (OK, I don't taste the butter, I wait til sugar's been added.) Organic eggs help to reduce the exposure to salmonella. Cuz the raw eggy buttery sugary glop before adding flour is AMBROSIA. Hardens my arteries just THINKING about it. Yum!

I do eat the finished product too, though.

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

Listen to really angry music, preferably really loudly.

[amphibolous.livejournal.com]

I have three solutions that I usually use in conjunction.

1) Get in a car and drive away for a bit. Loud music and quiet country roads usually work best. Distance and distraction. Or take a subway/train to its end.
2) Get out of the car, into the woods, and hit a good, two hour + hike through absolute (ok, wilderness-invaded) silence. preferably somewhere you're not gonna get lost. Immerse yourself in the location and do not think about your mood or its causes.
3) Repeat step 1 to a loud, commercial mall and be commercial -- get something you really don't need in the company of a few hundred folks you don't know. About this time, the issue should (unless you're depressed about the noise level of malls or shopping) be much easier to resolve or put behind you while ambulating with the other zombies.

It's essentially an auditory, physical, and emotional whiplash which generally snaps anything else weighing on the brain back to it's place. I can usually pull this off in a few hours (hike fast if you're time pressed and you'll find yourself slowing down to observe as you center). The most memorable one was (and I have no idea why I was so depressed) when I drove from Boston to the Berkshires on Rte (which actually gets nice after 495 and awesome after the Connecticut River), hiked a good bit on the NY/MA border, then cut down to Holyoke to the real Big Mall in Mass (conveniently near my hometown) to splurge. even got home before the shift I was supposed to be working finished :-)

[twistjusty.livejournal.com]

I usually walk outdoors for at least a half-hour.

If it is too dark, wet, or cold, I will listen to vintage jazz while having a soak in a very warm tub of water.

[askesis.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping death will do the trick.

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

I let it take its course. I rationalize. There's not much else that can be done.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

If I'm mad at a person, I remove myself from his presence and, if possible, go for a long walk. My goal on these walks is to get lost or uncomfortable (wet from rain or blistered from uncomfortable shoes) and especially to get exercise. It's always a plus if people miss me or worry about me while I'm gone. I generally return to real life feeling better after these walkabouts.

If I'm feeling chemically out-of-sorts (depressed, or just irritable), then comfort food tends to help: moo shu, or good thick pizza... and there's nothing like the quiet company of someone who understands.

[jtemperance.livejournal.com]

Stuff that works for me:

-Hanging out with friends/family
-Taking some kind of concrete steps about my perceived problems
-Exercise
-Travel, sightseeing

[sirvalence.livejournal.com]

1. Hugs. Being physically reminded that there are people that I love and that love me puts most annoyances in perspective.

2. If possible, determine what's causing the mood and figure out the next action required to ameliorate it.

3. Take a walk, preferably to somewhere that I can get a Chai cream frappucino.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

Hopefully your bad mood has left by now, but... I run, or ride my bike, or curl up to re-read a favorite book, or call a friend to go do something fun and distracting.

[jodiamonds.livejournal.com]

Music soothes the savage beast.

The right music, anyway.