Feeling Grumpy? Try This

Across all intersections of belief, age, origin, or gender, we’ve all felt the seemingly inescapable desire to act like a sourpuss. Taking a bad attitude with your personal relationships can put a stain on your interactions with the people you love, and getting obstinate and grumpy in your professional life will only serve to make you miserable. So what are you supposed to do when you just cannot seem to pierce your impervious and pervasive sense of grump? Here, try this.

For Pete’s Sake, Eat Something.

Sometimes hunger is half the battle. It is impossible to overstate the impact that hunger has on grumpiness. Human emotions have a tendency to become far more severe when our body’s needs are going unmet. So if you’re feeling really grumpy, eating something filling and nutritious will at the very least give you the energy to work through it.

Mindfully Exercise.

Embracing your physicality through exercise is like hitting the reset button on your computer. After all, it’s hard to stay grumpy when there’s sweat flying off your eyelashes, but mindful exercise doesn’t have to be something that damages your body or strains your patience. Doing a gentle yoga flow can be excellent exercise without breaking the bank energy-wise. Even just taking the time to stretch out your body can be a boon to your mood, and your mental health.

Touch Grass (You Don’t Have To Do It Literally But It Helps To Do It Literally).

Going outside and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of nature can do wonders for your mood and attitude. Think about it, just feeling the sunlight on your skin gives your body the vitamin D it needs to survive. As humans, we evolved to spend lots of time outside. If our lizard brain feels like it’s locked in a cage, it would only make sense for it to take a sour mood.

Opposite Action.

“But what is Opposite Action?” You ask. Opposite Action is a coping skill that can be tremendously helpful for people who struggle with executive dysfunction, depression, anxiety, or even a bad mood. Sometimes our gut feelings drive us into the arms of despair, and we need to take drastic measures to heal ourselves. Opposite Action is about taking those gut feelings, such as “I don’t want to take the trash out”, and then turning them into positive output, such as taking the trash out.

Make time for self-care.

Your overwhelm and burnout might be presenting themselves as grumpiness. To reduce your irritability, create a morning routine that is filled with self-care. Give yourself time to just be, sitting in mindful meditation, sipping your tea and coffee, and just giving in to the little pleasures of life. Think about what you are grateful for, and what you have to look forward to. If you are so grumpy that you can’t think of anything, plan and create things to look forward to. You deserve it!

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Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.