What to do if You're Feeling Sad
After the rain comes a rainbow. Life is like that too. Sometimes your rainbow might not be as vibrant and colourful, but that’s okay! What matters is that you “turned that frown upside down”!
Today I’ll be addressing and explaining a few things I do when I’m feeling sad, mad, stressed or just under the weather in general.
1-Drink a hot beverage
Disclaimer, this so-called tip may be caused by my recent addiction to watching “Young Sheldon” and “The Big Bang Theory” (which are great shows, by the way). Normally, I don’t take advice given to me by pixelated children on my screen, but in this particular case, I desperately needed it. A while back, I was watching ‘Young Sheldon’ on my couch, and was feeling very down on myself because I had just failed a school assignment. In this episode, the main character, Sheldon, told another character of the show to drink a hot beverage because she (the other person, not Sheldon) was also sad. Weirdly enough, I TOOK this advice given by a fictional being on my screen and made myself a cup of hot chocolate. Maybe it was the warm, blissful feeling of having a chocolatey flavour melt on my tongue, or maybe it was the warmth of the mug touching my palms and spreading itself throughout my entire body, but it worked. I was instantly energised and all my worries seemed to slip my mind. This is a trick I definitely won’t stop using anytime soon!
2-Take a walk
We all know that rainbows only appear after a rainshower dries up. When you’re feeling bad, taking a walk can be your form of ‘sunshine’. The longer you stay out there and bathe in natural light, the more your ‘rain’ will evaporate. Let go of your stress and anxiety after a long, tedious school/work day and just focus on being outdoors. You’ll feel better instantly, I promise.
3-Think
Much like the previous tip, this one involves focusing on relieving your stress as well. In society today, many of us are carrying heavy clouds of ‘stress’ on our shoulders every single day, without even realizing that they’re weighing us down! Sometimes we even accept that feeling as who we are and carry on with our days despite feeling ‘sad’. Instead of carrying this pit in your stomach, take some time off to think about these questions: WHY am I sad? WHAT am I sad at? And lastly, HOW did I start feeling sad? Acknowledging your pain instead of ignoring it actually builds a positive message of “I can do it” regardless of your emotional status.
4-Mental break
Some of the leading causes of sadness include, but are not limited to, poor relationships with family or friends and struggling to do well at home, school, or work. All of those burdens revolve around a single topic. Grades. Kids nowadays are being brought up to believe that nothing’s more important than getting high scores in school. But what parents are neglecting to take care of is their kids’ mental health, social life, and emotional well-being. All of this ultimately relates back to our focus today, SADNESS. Although marks are fundamental in shaping a child’s future, trying to get high grades just to impress your parents can wreck a family and distance the kid from their friends. So, I’ve found out (from years of getting yelled at for not understanding a math concept), that taking these ‘mental breaks’ are very helpful. They are essentially just five minutes of breathing and not doing work. You can even strike up a conversation with a family member, if you like!
Speaking of conversations, that leads us to our next tip:
5-Talk to someone
No, it doesn’t need to be a therapist. Paying $80 an hour to talk to a professional therapist is a bit out of my price range. But of course, if you can afford it, go for it. My suggestion here though, is to just talk to someone. It can even be your dog. When we feel sad, sometimes irrational thoughts jump into your head. Talking to a trusted individual (like a stuffed animal) is one of the many ways you can get it out of your system.
6-Scream into a pillow!
Sometimes I like doing this for no reason at all, but it is actually extremely comforting to do when you feel sad or mad. Screaming into a pillow is a great way to release all those stress nerves that you’ve been holding onto for the whole day. *Also, you’ll feel so winded after, you won’t even remember why you were sad in the first place)!
Just keep in mind, some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is!
