Why am I always in a bad mood?
“I'm grumpy because the sun is bright and harsh; my husband forgot to keep the cup in the sink, and my child is glued to the screen.”
My mood darkens like a storm cloud forming over the sky. Aren’t these enough reasons to be in the bad mood? Such reasons are enough for me to feel enraged and furious, but then I see people around me running for cover.
Sometimes you don't need a valid reason to be angry, sad, frustrated, annoyed, offended, or hurt. Sometimes it bubbles up from within, right at that moment. But this sudden onset of mood changes creates a roller coaster of unpredictability and disruption in daily life, making it stressful.
Hey! Do you hate me? Why are you running away from me?
When I am grumpy, everyone avoids me. I sulked more.
Is the bad mood for no reason?
My mood swings suck. I can be elated and happy in one moment, and then suddenly grumpy and upset in the other. And while the brain can come up with a thousand reasons that someone else is at fault. I must own it up and figure out how to free myself from it.
Why am I unable to regulate my emotions?
Let's introspect:
Am I investing extra energy to please and serve others? Being an emotional firefighter and always running into every burning emotional building might be draining me out.
Have I to set healthy boundaries for myself?
Am I tired, drained out, and my feeling of emptiness is an invitation to restore my soul in order to find joy and fulfillment?
Have I gotten a chance to rest, relax, and recharge my soul?
Should I book a ticket for Bahamas to unwind? Oh! Right now no vacations for me..
What else I can do to survive without vacation. What should I do?
If you are like me, here are few tips that could help you manage intense emotions affecting your day-to day life?
You have two choices:
Option 1: Suppress your emotions. Inhibit how you feel or what you feel. Well, this approach sucks in the long run.
Option 2: Reappraise.
Reappraising is taking a moment to reflect on what’s causing you to feel what you feel. It requires re-evaluation of emotion – eliciting situations. This short introspection is needed to figure out why you are upset?
Is there something bothering you which you’re unable to pin point?
Is your co-worker’s nasty comment lingering in your head?
Is it a kind of emotional trigger? Does your boss behaviour remind you of a bully in school?
Is it because you feel unappreciated or self-love and self-worth?
Are you your own critic? Do you think you don’t do your job well?
Seems like reappraising has positive results and leads to better mood stability. It could help to slew of critical inner voices ramping up in the head, that makes you snap at your loved ones. How to get out of a bad mood?
By identifying what affects mood could help break the bad mood cycle:
What affects your mood?
Sleep:
If you want your life to run smoothly, you need to get adequate amounts of sleep, regularly. Sleep is extremely important for mood stability and the ability to control emotions. Sleep deprivation and irregular sleep sporadically disrupt circadian rhythms, causing all those brain players to malfunction.
Dampening your executive control, leaving you with an untamed amygdala, so you struggle to control those negative feelings flowing through your body, leaving you easily irritated, susceptible to stress, and having an unstable mood.
Getting too little sleep leaves you grumpy, tired, and exhausted in the morning, and you push yourself hard to get through your day, believing everyone around you is against you.
Action: Take a nap, doze of
Physical activity:
It's great that you love your couch. And after spending the day at work, it's hard to think about taking a walk, joining an aerobics class or going to a Zomba class after work, but you need to move, get up, and move anyhow.
The thing is, physical exercise, whether it's walking, running, or dancing, helps reset your executive control so that you can manage your thoughts and daily activities more effectively.
Action: Exercise regularly. It is worth taking a walk in the fresh air, attending your aerobics class, or doing any other physical activity.
Include diet rich in Omega-3-Fatty acids:
Did you know that what is on your plate can affect your mood?
It is believed that omega 3 fatty acids support brain function and protect against cognitive decline. Omega 3 intake correlates with gray matter volume, an area of the brain associated with memory, mood, and emotion regulation. Inadequate levels of omega 3 fatty acids could lead to depression and other disorders.
Researchers report that increasing intake of Omega- 3 fats, even supplements, is helpful even when started at a late age.
Action: Don’t wait till then. Get your hands on food enriched with Omega 3-fats. Well, cold water fish are abundant in Omega-3-fats.
Social life:
Your interpersonal relationships influence your mood. If you've noticed that when you don't get time or possibilities to connect with friends and family, you feel low, well, social connections and laughter have an impact on your mood. The more connected you are, the better you feel.
Having a hearty conversation with a friend, or spending quality time with your family or partner can uplift your mood.
Action: Take some quality time to share feeling with your loved ones and include laughter in your life.
Heart rate:
A vital aspect of emotional regulation is heart rate variability, the capacity of the heart to adapt beat by beat to the changes that are involved in everyday life. Heart rate variability reflects vagal tone, which is a marker of general health.
Action:
Include mediation, and breathing exercises to activate the bodies' “rest and-digest” functions, to counteract our body's “flight-or-fight” response to situation.
In the moment to moment, staying balanced requires the skills of emotion regulation; if you continue to feel haunted by dark emotions, consult your medical health practitioner.Sometimes there are underlying issues which need attention. And you won’t be able to fix it on your own. Action: Consult a health practitioner
Leave a comment to let us know how do you manage your mood on a daily basis.
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Very well analyzed