Learn to deal with your bad moods

You don’t need to smile all the time. For some of you this isn’t a struggle, when you are having problems your face shows how you feel. 

I am not one of those people, and some of you, like me, will just paste a smile over whatever mood you are actually in; partly because it is easier, and partly because you are expected to smile. 

The happiness of the group does not depend on you. You can’t be sunshiny all the time—sometimes you need to curl up like a hedgehog and hide beneath your spines. 

Taking time to be by myself helps me put whatever is bothering me into perspective. Take an hour or 20 minutes to sit and mope somewhere beautiful, write in a journal or go for a walk and belt out “On my Own” from Les Misérables where no one can judge how off-key you are. 

Just take a minute to breath somewhere you are not surrounded by homework. But don’t let yourself stay in a dismal mood, find the person or thing that will put a smile on your face again (for me, this week it was baby hedgehogs). Making someone else smile makes me feel a bit better myself.  

A while back, I got knocked hard in the face while playing a game. Sitting on the ground, holding my nose, I took a moment to congratulate the other person on how solid their hand was. 

Making the situation into a little bit of a joke took my mind off my nose and assured the bystanders that I was not mortally wounded. 

When I talk to my friends, I usually end up in a better mood. Laughing over the unique events that happened over the week makes my week a little better. 

Stop focusing on how bad your week was and check if you can help someone else. When I have the time, I will call my parents and see how life is going back home. You can be in a bad mood, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Do what you need to get back to being yourself.

There are times when you must paste a smile over your mood (working with small children, or just work in general), and practicing the portrayal of a good mood is important.

There will always be times when you must do a thing no matter what you feel like. Sometimes, after a few minutes of yanking the corners of my mouth up by the sheer force of will, the smile starts to be genuine. 

Smiling when you don’t feel like it can improve your mood. Whatever the situation, open yourself up to the possibility of a good day. 

Nothing is ever too bad that you can’t laugh at something.