On the weekend I heard a talk by Ed Dale at the ProBlogger Conference and he said to simply write, don’t edit while you write.
So this is what I’m doing, just writing.
Far out I just stopped and re-read those 2 sentences and fixed all my mistakes. Woah. Will need to practise. But yay for this advice, not only did this action get me out of a shit mood, it created a whole blog post. This blog post. Thanks Ed.
2022 update! We also spoke about this topic on our podcast. It’s a great listen, perfect for you if you’re feeling rather crappy. Tune in here!
10 Ways To Help You Feel Less Shit.
I haven’t written a blog post for a while, I mean I’ve written recipe posts and although I care deeply about the food you and I eat, it’s not really writing from the heart and that’s what I want to do. I’ve had this calling to just write, I’ve been talking about it a lot but not actually writing anything.
Writing is hard sometimes. Life is hard sometimes. I know, like what the fu*k?
I’m all about the good vibes, I’m all about the positivity and I want to spread this message far and wide. The message that you can live a happy, healthy and magical life… if you want to.
But far out sometimes I just feel blah/nothing/sucky… just in a bad, oh-so-not-merry mood.
I know! Shock horror, The Merrymaker Sisters are not always merry!
It’s like that feeling where you just can’t be bothered with anything. Can’t be bothered with life. Maybe it’s called indifferent? I dunno? (I say that a lot in real life, even when I do know… but just so you know… I actually don’t know if that is the correct word to use).
So this is me sometimes…
I feel mediocre, like the real me is covered in dust and I’m trying to surface but can’t. I’m just in a bad mood and I don’t care that my bad mood has rubbed off on Carla. I can’t be bothered to call my Mum, even though I know there is a 99.9% chance that call will make me feel so much better. My boyfriend asks me ‘what’s wrong?’ and I reply ‘nothing’. I don’t care about the emails needing a reply, or social media comments waiting from amazing people. I’ve had enough of business, making money, learning about SEO, sales funnels. The thought of cooking and creating a recipe actually makes me feel a little ill. I don’t want to read. I don’t want to go sit in the sun. I can’t be arsed to walk 100 metres to the beach. The thought of yoga makes me laugh and not in a good way.
I begin to wonder if actually I even am a happy person. I wonder if I even like what I do everyday. Wondering, thinking, over analysing but also not really analysing at all. It’s just kinda grey, flat and empty.
Even though I have access to so many things, tools, people that will pull me out of this sucky moment I choose to stay there. Stay in the sucky, grey moment and begin to wonder what is all of this (this = life) for?
Life is weird. Seriously.
During this mess of nothingness in my mind I think about everyone else out there and wonder how often they (you) think like this.
If you clicked on this article I assume you might know about all the things that help with these darkish moments. Maybe?
Then I think about everyone else who would never ever click on a website with the word ‘merry’ in it and I wonder how they deal with this shit.
Even though we gotta get low to know the highs (light, dark, yin, yang, it’s all the same) and even though it’s completely healthy to feel sad, mad, angry or <insert ‘negative’ emotion here> dealing with these sucky moments faster, reacting in a calm way, accepting them and moving on is just better.
Just to give you an update on the non-editing thing. Totally failed and went back and edited, then checked Facebook and Instagram. Definitely need practice! But here goes…
10 Ways to Help You Feel Less Shit
Put it on paper
Journal, write, record the inner thinking and talking. This actually works coz I just did it, like for realz, I was feeling shit, then I wrote the above and now I feel better.
Surround yourself with loving people
Hang out with awesome, uplifting, positive people. Or call someone, like actually pick up the phone and talk to them. I did this the other day, I called my Mum, burst into tears and after 5 minutes of talking I felt like a new person. It was like the grey fog around me lifted. If you can’t find these people in real life, hang out with us online.
Also, bonus way to feel less shit is to cry. Far out, letting emotions flow feels goooood.
Practise gratitude
This will help you in so many ways, as soon as you start you’ll begin to realise all the magic that is actually in your life. That this sucky moment might be there for a reason. Don’t wait for sucky moments to think about gratitude. Practise. Every. Single. Day. Gratitude is the game changer.
Create something
Paint, play your musical instrument, draw, write, cook, bake. Do something you love, create something for fun and if the only thing it does is pull you out of a bad mood, it’s a success! And who knows what else it could lead to. If you want to learn more about why creating stuff leads to happiness checkout Dan Norris’ new book Create or Hate. It’s epic!
Get moving
Exercise, you are not meant to be stationary. You are meant to move and not just from your chair to the kitchen, to the bathroom a couple of times every day. If you’ve been putting off a regular exercise regime… now is the time to start. Find something you love to do. Walk, dance, pilates, yoga, surf. It’ not just about slugging away in the gym. Have fun and you’ll be more motivated to do it. Exercise literally gets the juices flowing for the body, mind and spirit.
EDIT 2020: Since writing this article we made a cool thing… MerryBody Online Studio. It’s Yoga and Pilates classes with us! As a Member get unlimited 24/7 access to all classes, available to stream on any device and download to your MerryBody App for offline use.
Experience the combination of Yoga, Pilates and Meditation to completely change the way you workout – AND how you feel about yourself. You can learn more about MerryBody HERE.
Get your sexy butt in nature
Walk outside, sit on the beach, lay on the grass. Go barefoot, get grounded, soak up some vitamin D. Change your environment and your energy and thoughts will change.
Hug, hold hands, cuddle
There’s something powerful to human touch, I googled it and human touch releases oxytocin and serotonin into our bodies, lowering heart rates and cortisol levels and this makes us happier. Epic, get cuddling!
Pump your favourite tune and have a dance break
Have you forgotten how fun music is? Put on your fave song right now and see what happens. Get moving at the same time and dance like a crazy person for extra happy vibes and that is a guaranteed farewell to shit feeling. We asked a bunch of people what their fave high vibe songs are and we now have a go-to list. Watch this space, we’ll write about this and create an awesome list for you! We have a dance break at least twice a week!
Have a nap or at least a little rest
Many crappy feelings come from not enough sleep. If you feel tired, angry and nothing is going your way… stop trying to push through and have a lay down. Also, try get enough sleep every night. What’s your optimal sleep time? 6 hours? 8 hours? Find out and do it.
Do something good for somebody else
Sometimes bad moods make you selfish, you start thinking you’re the only one hard done by. Realise that someone out there would be so freaking grateful to have just half of what you have right now. Get out of your head and do something good for somebody else.
The feedback loop from hell
Yes, I know this is the 11th point. It’s the bonus way to make life less shit, yahoo! We chatted to Mark Manson (amazing dude) last week on #MerryBiz (one of the best interviews we’ve have, you want to listen!) and he spoke about this feedback loop from hell. Marks says… We feel bad about feeling bad. We feel guilty for feeling guilty. We get angry about getting angry. We get anxious about feeling anxious.
It’s like we have the bad feeling then we sustain the bad feeling because we feel bad about having the bad feeling. Instead, if we just accept it, we can move on. Woah, epic huh. Seriously, go and listen to the interview. It really helped me.
Next time you feel a bit shitty, practise 1 or 2 (or 10!) of the above. It’s time to go from mediocre to magical!
Always merrymaking,
Emma (but Carla agrees with everything ;))
If you need to chat to anyone about anything you’re going through and need extra support you can call Lifeline.
Cute hand holding photo from Unsplash other photos by Chad at Rialba Photography.