Feeling a bit down tonight. How do you guys like to lighten up?
I fully acknowledge that it isn't healthy but I drink or smoke weed. Playing with my dog and going on walks helps a lot too. Videogames when I have the attention span to play them is good too
Binge info. I look up whatever random question was bugging me earlier that day/week/month, and try and read everything even tangentially related. By the end I'm distracted enough I forgot about being sad.
Not a solution though. On the upside, I got to learn a bit more.
Waste time on the internet, maybe modding or other nerdy projects
Meditation is the best for me. Not striving to get out of the "down" state, but just being there, present, watching it, feeling it, being with it. You know that sooner or later it'll go. Just as being cheerful also goes. Arts are also wonderful. For me it's music. For some people painting or writing. Those are ways in which you can connect with your feelings and discover some really neat things when you can really connect. You channel your complex emotions into creativity. I personally think that playing a videogame or having a distraction can some very specific times get you out of a mood, but most of the time it will just be avoidance of something that is happening within you. We are so used in avoiding ourselves. Be it a videogame, TV, a reel, a joint, a beer, a chat, whatever. For me there are few things better than what happens when you manage to overcome the boredom, fear, anxiety or whatever keeps you away from being just where you are and decide to just stay there and look at it with eyes wide open. Something opens. It's probably not fireworks nor spiritual epiphany, but a subtle thing that has the taste of real. And that real is oh so liberating.
Usually feel great after a cry, but some times I treat myself with a shower in the dark with music or a podcast playing in the background
Take a nice shower,get to yoga class even on the days I don't feel like it, treating myself to a nice book or random thing I want, talking to my therapist and letting it all out.
Play guitar. Ride a horse. Ride a motorcycle. Play frisbee with my dog. Read a book.
Like the other reply, the little things are big things.
I hope you can feel better, friend.
It's just better to get used to a baseline level of misery than relying on happiness to get yourself out of a funk.
That said, turn the fucking devices off, get a big fucking cup of herbal tea, and look at the natures for 30 minutes. You are not allowed to press the buttons on the misery-skinner-box until tea is gone and timer is up.
I walk the high-line in NYC or sit by the water at Gantry Plaza State Park.
I watch the Monster Factory on YouTube. Specifically the more recent Dark Souls 3 episodes with the randomized translator for all text. Always puts be in a good mood.
