How To Pick Yourself Up When Your Mood Is Quickly Falling

For as long as I can remember, every time I felt down, sad, or stressed, my mom has always had the answer. “Just go for a run,” I hear her say. Argh…this makes me want to smack her pretty face.

Who on earth wants to go running when they’re feeling miserable? In fact, I’m pretty sure the current definition of miserable reads a little something like this:

Miserable: feeling so down that the only solution is to merge with the couch cushions, turn on Netflix and stuff carbs down your throat.

Right?!

I have gotten so good at this couch cushion routine that even my husband understands it.

“Are you having a blue day?” He’ll ask. The response is typically some muffled grunt, but it’s enough to get the message across.

I have to admit though…here it comes…that my mom is most certainly correct. Ok, maybe not about the specific activity (this 6.5 month pregnant, permanently tired mama does not need to be tying up running shoes and jiggling down Johnson Ave), but she is right about the indirect consequence that running produces – you have to go outside.

I went to an astrologist many years ago and she very correctly described me as being somewhat reclusive. I enjoy the company of small groups or individuals, but, given the choice, I tend to opt for staying home alone. Add a less than ideal mood to the mix and you can see how the idea of “running” my problems away might be far from my first choice.

Having a kid has tested my reclusiveness.

Have you ever attempted to stay indoors for days on end when you have a toddler?! It is no fun at all! You see, the couch potato remedy doesn’t work when you have a small human climbing on top of you, constantly handing you books or toys, and yelling for your attention.

To make a point, I have been forced to adopt my mom’s solution to all woes…get outside. And let me tell you, it is very effective. Every day that I get out and do something instead of trying to power through 12 hours in the play room, is a far superior day.

In fact, today was a prime example…

No, I did not feel like doing anything that involved putting on shoes, mascara, non-pj clothes. I only got to bed at midnight and was then woken up by Thomas-the-cat at 4:45am. Do I have to say that I was exhausted?

The problem was Maya and I had run out of 1-year old, 10 minute attention span, games by 9:30, so I became brutally aware of the fact that I needed to get creative and apply my mother’s wisdom.

And so we ventured out to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We walked, played, enjoyed lunch together, smelled flowers and marvelled at the gigantic structures that the gardens are currently putting up.

In conclusion, my day could have looked like this:

Instead, it looked like this:

Tara 

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