Come on get happy

Yesterday, I was in a pretty foul mood. Today, I want to be better. As my mama has long told me, “You can get glad in the same pants you got mad in.”

And that’s something that I’ve gotten significantly better at as I’ve aged. I was Grand Master Funk when it came to getting in a bad mood. I spent my entire sophomore year of college in the mother of all bad moods. Wore nothing but black. Never had anything pleasant to say. Rarely had anyone to say anything to. One nasty snarl of a person. Thank the powers that be that I was damn good at my job, because I think they could have fired me just because of the little black could that followed me everywhere I went. Debbie Downer for sure.

But over the years, I’ve discovered that a lot of that is my choice. Being Little Miss Funkypants can be fun. In small doses. But the real danger there is that it’s kind of addictive. And before you know it, that little dose of depression has sent you into a tailspin that’s hard to come out of. Grumpy can be a hard habit to break.

So I kind of watch myself. Yeah, I’ll respond to negative events with a little bit of grouch. But because of my personality type, it’s not something I should indulge in too much or too often. Sometimes, if I’ve been really bumming, I’ll have to tell myself – Smile, dammit! Look on the bright side! Quit bumming other people out! And then do just that. It really is something that sometimes you have to fake it until you can make it.