31 Things To Do When You're Feeling Blue

Some days are just bad days, aren't they? I can be frustrated, sad, scared or just down in general and when I get like that I have absolutely no motivation for life which is bad - When you sit and do nothing you end up just thinking about why you don't want to do anything. I can obsess about past mistakes, worry about the future and get upset again about conflicts that have been resolved for years if I let myself. Not healthy. So next time you're angry at the world or super depressed or lonely or whatever. Make the decision to stop being pathetic and choose to be happy about life. Here are some ways to turn it around.

1. Write a gratitude letter: Sit down and list all the many things you have to be thankful for. Your health, your family, your butt, whatever. Chances are the good far outweighs the bad no matter what's going on so remind yourself of that and be thankful.
2. Pretend to be an Olympian: Go outside and OWN the badminton court. Play doubles volleyball with your spouse or do awesome dives from the diving board at your local pool. Whatever you have fun doing pretend to be the best at it. It's a lot of fun.
3. Make a Fairy Kingdom: Go outside and build a village for imaginary people. If you have a little one this is less weird. Chad's Aunt Judy bought us a book about building fairy houses and gave it to us the day after we stumbled upon one at our campsite.
4. Have a Hugging Contest: If you have a little one or a significant other have a hugging contest or play hug tag. The other person doesn't even have to want to play... Sometimes that makes it more fun.
5. Be a Housekeeping Rockstar: Clean the inside of your windows (in your car too.) or rearrange your kitchen countertop or livingrooom furniture. Make sure you blast your happy music while you're doing this. For me it's Ingrid Michaelson but, whatever it is for you, plug it into Pandora and rock out. This even makes doing dishes fun. When you're done you'll have a clean house and you'll realize you actually enjoyed yourself while you were doing it. It's a very cleansing activity.
6. Paint with Watercolors: Watercolors are super easy to paint with and they make very little mess. pick a bunch of the fruits on your table or your child's toys and paint a still life. Use masking tape to tape your paper to a flat surface and sit on your carpet with your back against the couch painting. It doesn't hurt to watch a musical or romantic comedy while you're doing this either. I suggest Chicago or There's Something About Mary.
7. Walk: Some people say run, and that works too, but when I'm super down the last thing I have motivation to do is go for a run. I will, however, put on my running shoes and walk a new trail or along the beach. The best time of day for this is when it starts to cool off or before it gets too hot. Overcast weather is my favorite.
8. Bake Cookies: and bring them to your neighbors. make cute packaging for them and while you're dropping them off ask if you can help them with anything. I feel best about myself when I feel like I'm making someone else happy. It almost sounds selfish.
9. Make a Chalk Outline of Yourself: This may be a bit morbid but it's still fun. If you're near people you know you can leave your outline outside their car or in front of their house or you can do it at your house and spend the afternoon coloring inside your lines. Make sure to wear sunscreen and have fun absorbing that vitamin D. You can do this in the winter too if you buy that big paper from back in elementary school.
10. Call an Old Friend: Preferably the one with whom you have the most inside jokes. Ask her what's going on in her day or how she feels about The Jersey Shore or Whatever stupid boy is annoying her recently. If she's a big laugher then you'll have a good conversation. Don't call her if she's not a big laugher... That's not fun.
11. Write a Story: Pick someone special in your life like a daughter, or puppy or someone cute and write a story about them. This is especially fun for a child. Write about them inheriting something magical and using it to save the world or something. The best part is reading it to them afterward. If you really want to take on a project you can illustrate it too.
12. Give Yourself a Makeover: Like a CRAZY makeover. Turn yourself into lady gaga (play loud music.) Then go to the pool and pretend it never happened.
13. Read the Bible: Go to Psalms or Proverbs and just start reading. If you hit a part that's not particularly uplifting then just keep reading. Those books are filled with happy thoughts.
14. Do an Easy Craft: Like the ones from This post. A great blog to visit also is A Beautiful Mess. Those girls come up with so much.
15. Wear a Dress: It's almost impossible to feel grumpy in a super cute dress. wear cute jewelry or hair accessories too. Paint your nails to match.
16. Buy Modeling Clay: and make your own little dolls and a little village to play with. Or just make one and pretend he's making things happen magically in your home - like your own version of the toothfairy. Leave him/her next to gifts or letters in you home. Again, this is best done with a small child.
17. Watch a Disney Movie: I know I Know... Mickey Mouse has no soul but it's thinking like that that made Hank such a depressed person in the first place. Enjoy yourself despite yourself.
18. Make a Five-Year-Plan:  Write it out in crayon.
19. Go House Shopping: So what if you only have $30.00 in your bank account, you can still look online and find out exactly what you want. Chad and I "shop" when we're on drives. Pick out your dream house and then start mentally decorating it. In middle school we had a computer program that would do this. I miss it.
20. Go Wild Flower Picking: Bring your camera and your little one. Have her/him collect flowers of the same color. So cute.
21. Paint Faces: They make facepainting crayons now. Get your little one's friends together and paint their faces. Get your own friends together, who cares? Also good... balloon animals.
22. Write a Letter: Did you have a super nice neighbor growing up or have you talked to the family you used to babysit for recently? Write them a letter. Include pictures and if you have a little one have them write a "letter" as well. Send it off and think about all those happy memories.
23. Do Something You Pinned on Pinterest: Yeah, you can actually DO those things.
24. Go Pet Something Cute and Fuzzy: Sometimes your local humane society will let you test drive a kitten or maybe there's a petting zoo near by. I love doing this with Betty because it's SO amazing to her. The best things in life are better through the eyes of a child.
25. Eat Cupcakes: A lot!
26. Take Goofy Photos: Use your computer's camera and make funny faces by yourself or with your little one. You can also make a dance video and the different filters and effects make it way more fun.
27. Write a Love Letter: To someone special to you and include all the reasons you love them. Tuck it away for a special day... you can even make a big collection of them. It will make them feel awesome one day when they're feeling blue too.
28. Cry to your Mama: Nobody makes you feel better than your mama does. Just don't do it too often or she'll think you need professional help.
29. Try Something New: Take a pottery class, Take an improv class, Drive to a new town or state, Eat Indian food, get a pedicure, take a yoga class, join a gym, take a zumba class, look at paints at home depot, buy yourself flowers, go canoeing or kayaking, climb a mountain, paint a pet rock, get professional photos taken, go bungee jumping, plan a trip to Niagra Falls, Take a train trip, wear fake eyelashes, buy a daring shade of lipstick, I dunno... If you haven't done it before, do it now and see if you like it. (within reason of course... Don't take up gambling or cocaine or anything.)
30. Watch Your Favorite Ridiculous Comedy: Is it Wayne's World, Tommy Boy, Bridesmaids or SNL? Watch it and then imitate it all day. The whole world did this with Napoleon Dynamite didnt they? They had a lot of fun too.
31. Take a Bubble Bath: With candles, incense and Norah Jones. Turn the lights off completely and scrub your toes in the candle light. Don't get out til you're pruney.

I know some days it hurts to get out of bed. Life is hard and the day can be daunting. Tell yourself life is fun, it's cute and you're going to find joy in it no matter what because life's too short not to and how dare your unhappy side try to cramp your style like that. You're a beautiful and fun woman with a lot to offer the world. Shut up unhappy side and let me be me (snap, snap, snap.)


 Don't be the sad girl. Be happy because you're supposed to be and you have earned it by living through the hard stuff.


Photos courtesy of me, Mostphotos.com, cheesy movie night blog, and Wine Diva South Africa.