When you're down, what do you do to pick yourself up?
 

"When you're down and out, feeling small"

Enough song quoting... I can do that all day!

When you're feeling low or blue or in a funk or sad...whatever, not quite yourself, what do you do to pick yourself up?

It doesn't have to be huge. Sometimes it may redirect you for only a little while but it helps you to not continue to revolve in the doldrums.

For myself, today I popped in Disney's version of Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella and I played "The Sweetest Sounds" repeatedly until I decided it was enough. I love that song and it had been on my mind. The entire movie makes me smile.

I force myself into the shower, and then throw myself out of the house to go to the grocery, for example. Cleaning also helps. Sometimes watching a funny DVD, or listening to pick-me-up music.

I usually go shopping for new clothes.

It makes me feel good when I look good. :princess:

I pray

Watch Rocky Horror

Call a friend

Go for a walk

Drive with my sun roof open and Paradise City playing really loud

Go to accupuncture

Get a mani/pedi

Read something uplifting

And yes, listen to Disney Music like Bed Knobs and Brooksticks, Mary Poppins or Aristocats :)

Great thread idea, can't wait to see what suggestions appear. :)

I go outdoors. I feel the sun on my back, or the wind on my cheek. I watch the clouds or the trees or the birds. Basically, I get out of my head.

I have a few feel good songs that make me happy just in listening to them.

I play with make-up.

I plan my next event at the club-details keep me entertained.

I text/call my best butch friend.

I take a short walk---or a long bath.

:sparklyheart:

Have to agree with Liam, just getting out in the air usually gives me a lift. A walk with my pooch usually helps a lot. I start getting silly and focused on him and his cuteness and stress begins to decline.

When my spa was working, that was a way for me to kick back, relax and allow my muscles to let go. That helped, too.

I think complete and total distraction is the name of the game for me.

Having an involved conversation with someone (not just the uh huh and ok type conversation) this is even more effective if it involves leaving the house - even though I hate doing such.

Playing a MMORPG - (I can't help it, I can't think about more than the game with 12 billion things going on at once)

Reading a very interesting and high tempo book

Adjusting my meds ;)

Doing some projects around the house

treadmill! (with music blasting)

and last but not least - making sure I am not avoiding an issue. Face it, acknowledge it, grieve it if need be, then start the process of moving on.

I call a close friend or start texting her .. That almost always works she can get me laughing just by a few lines. "smiles"

For so many, MANY years when i was married to a bio man i was so lost, went through such depression and felt there was no escape.

This song honestly saved my life, more times than i can count. I used to sing it in the shower and cry and cry. I would come out of my shower feeling strong again.

Sometimes there is a song, a movie, a certain friend that can help pull you out of dark times.

Hold on for one more day and things will go your way...that is how i deal with the down times. (f)

Gotta love retail therapy :D

That is a great song! I'm so glad you said "dark times." That encompasses so much and some people just don't get that it can be so much more than being sad and crying all the time.

During a similar time for me, my song was Destiny Child's Survivor. (grammar aside, you have to make it work with the music sometimes).

I'm a Survivor. I'm not gon' give up. I'm not gon' stop. I will work harder.
I'm a Survivor. I'm gonna make it. I will survive. Keep on survivin'.

Positive music or very expressive music is always very helpful.

When I'm emotional, I like the music LOUD!!!! If I'm pissed (at self or others) and trying to shake it and calm myself, LOUD music in the car is the best! Something with either a lot of guitar or a lot of bass or excellent harmonies so I can sing along. Whatever it is, it has to be passionate! Bryan Adams is good for harmonies and guitar.

I used to clear the furniture from the floor and dance. Usually something slow and expressive like Sarah McLachlan's Angel. I haven't done that in YEARS. I have the space for it now so I can take it back up.

Singing is also very therapeutic for me especially if I can get something new and challenging and conquer it. I can blow off steam AND add a new song to my repertoire.

Liam - the sun always feels great on my skin. If I had a place to sunbathe in the nude I would no matter what my mood!

It sounds completely OCD, and I'm sure it could be classified as such...but when I'm down sometimes I will feel almost instantly better when I clean. I totally get into my head and get lost in a zone that helps me sort through what's at the root of my sadness. The same thing goes for working outside in the yard. I can have little conversations in my brain and simultaneously work stuff through that can get stuck on a cellular level. Generally though, a good talk with my partner, some snuggle time with her and my girls, sometimes a good cry...and I'm all set!

And if all else fails, I have a heart to heart with my mom. She wasn't always the best mom but now that she's gone she's a fantastic listener! :)

I go fishing :) then hopefully have a cold beer while I clean said fish that I caught. By the time I clean up the mess, I am usually over whatever had me down.

River

:eatinghersheybar:I bought fifteen Hershey's Symphony bars yesterday at the drugstore and shot up right in the parking lot.

I like to hide things around the house that I know people will need to look for, and then when they start looking I say, "I'll help!", and then I find it almost immediately. It makes me feel good to have helped them out that way, you know? :)

I get in my car and play *The Gaga* think about what is bothering me and sing as loud as I can along with her.

Usually by the time I've listened to the whole Cd twice I find myself able to work thru what is bothering me and I either shop or head on home singing at the top of my lungs :)

short term things dont work on me..like showers, retails therapy, cookies. When I am down, its usually because something is not working in my life and I have to get a handle on it. So I have to take steps toward that..no matter how small. The exception to this is, the one thing that ALWAYS picks me up is being around horses, tho.

I normaly just meet the problem head on and get that sucker out of the way,if that dosent work or I just feel steping back from it for a bit I head off to the gym.There is a kick boxing dummy up stairs,I give him a good work out,then im fine afterwards.One of the hardest thing I have had to learn is the art of soft talk...im pretty direct and to the point wich most folks just dont understand,its not that im mean or pushy or even in anyones face,I have a dry sence of humor when needed.Very often I dont say much unless ask about something..heck most folks I work for or hang out with wonder why I dont get into convos about things,I mean im not intrested in the local drama club gosip and it also is a way to avoid drama all togeather.

I put on a brightly colored outfit. (hot pink or fire orange work best), and get myself out in the sunlight (pretty easy most of the time in FLorida.)

And the song that works best for me is ...



Smooches,
Keri
Don't like this video though!

I couldnt have said it any better,my thouhgts exactly.

If I'm just in the house and don't want to go out or do anything special, I just follow my dog around. Fairly closely, like he will me, you know? Wherever he goes, there I am, right behind him. He starts to get nervous pretty quickly and he's, like, looking around at me, left and right. Then his ears go down and he slinks around, trying to shake me. That just always cheers me up.

I don't get down very often. I have moments of crankiness, but that passes quickly. If a storm is brewing, I reach for the music. Music and a walk is a cure all, but I can't sing loud and off key while taking a walk....so
if it's soul searching, deep into my vulnerablity time, I'm in the house with the sterio loud enough to drown me out.....and I'm singing away! Rock star I'll never be.....(I play a mean set of imaginary instruments)...:vigil:

i usually take on a dare..(one that scares me) or ill go for a drive or a motorcycle ride until im completely lost.

Picking myself up
 

I call around to find volunteer work that needs to be done..works for me..:)

I steal stuff.

2 remedies...
 

Punk rock on the ipod and an intense, sweaty, oh-god-I'm-going-to-puke workout...:blink:.
Or
:tea: A nice spot of tea, and an old movie.

OK, OK, I've been fooling around, but here's what I honest-to-god do sometimes when I'm down: I give blood.

All the Red Crossers are so nice to you, and you feel like you're doing something good, and afterwards you get to sit at the long tables and eat as many snacks as you want and talk to the other donors.

If you really feel like shit, give platelets! It takes, like, 3 hours but they show you a movie and sometimes the women come around and feed you chocolate because you can't move your arms. I'm always like, More chocolate please.

Really, this one was not a joke. But I bet people who know me on here will suspect it is.

Another day, another thing I do when I'm down. Hm, might this indicate that I spend a lot of time feeling down? I'll try not to think about that.

This is something I really have done, not just a joke, but it's not nearly so noble as giving blood.

Not so long ago I had this job that absolutely stifled my little self. It was pure management and nothing at all in the realm of creativity, where I've always fit best.

Well, in the kitchen at this job, where on my floor probably 100 people were, I would hear everyone complain about not having enough flatware available if you took lunch too long after noon.

So I gradually started removing flatware from the kitchen until people were, like, practically screaming about the lack of spoons every day. I'd hear, "People are taking the forks to their desks and then just leaving them there and now the rest of us can't use them!!" and such.

I had a pretty strong collection by about New Years so when we came back after the first, I started insinuating all the flatware back into the kitchen. I even gathered up an old set or two I had at home and added those in.

The whole office seemed happier within a week or two and I felt really happy and entertained, too.


You know... I always thought it a bad idea to make me a manager since, basically, I'm why they need management, but this seems like I ultimately had a large, positive effect on the workplace after all.