Ever have those days when you wake up wanting to punch someone and cry, set your house on fire and move to Europe? (Maybe it’s just me…)
On those days I dread getting out of bed and turning on the laptop, because I know the things I usually let roll off my back are going to feel like personal attacks of barbed wire and teargas. I know it will be more of a challenge than usual to deal with my challenging clients. Any computer problem I experience will likely send me into a fistful rage, and nothing I write/think/do is going to feel good enough.
Bad moods suck. But should a bad mood kill our productivity, bring our freelance businesses to a halt, ground us to our beds until we’re better suited to play with others? Perhaps. Yet sometimes we have to find a way to push on.
Here are some methods that have worked to help me survive myself on bad mood days without committing any sort of crime or murdering my business.
1) Lighten the load.
On days I feel like crap I know I’m not going to be producing at my best. Since my bad moods usually only last a day, it makes sense to save anything I can until the next day when I’ll be more up for the challenge. Unless a client’s deadline is set in stone, I save the task. The client ultimately gets a better finished product, and I don’t have to drive myself crazy with my moodiness-induced nitpicking.
2) Be honest.
I have several freelance blogging clients I work for on a daily basis. With those clients, saying “I’m having an off day today, so if there are any problems with this article, please don’t hesitate to let me know” can go a long way. Folks tell me they appreciate the heads up. It shows that my less-fabulous-than-usual work product is a reflection of my own bad day and not that I’ve suddenly stopped caring about their project.
3) Reward thyself.
This one may sound silly, but I’ve learned that planning a reward for myself at the end of a moody workday really helps me to get through the day without wanting to hang myself or throw the laptop out the window (too much). I usually choose a new book, movie or album download. On an extremely bad day I order pizza.
How do you all keep yourselves productive when you’re in a bad mood?
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Amy
Great post!
When I started to read this, I thought “Oh, no..here we go with another lecture!”.
I was expecting to be told how we should suck it up, don’t worry, be happy, never quit, be grateful, pip pip cheerio, and remember that others are less fortunate (Like poor Timmy who fell down the well…)
But it was such a REFRESHING CHANGE to read that someone admits to getting into grumpy moods. That no matter what you do, some days just plain SUCK.
And I like your message: If you’re having a bad day try again tomorrow. But in the meantime, just cut yourself some slack.
..that’s all we need to hear. (No self-improvement lectures required).
P.S. I’m like you…a pizza at the right time can do wonders for a foul mood!
Friar’s last blog post..More Things Old People Like
yep.yep.yep. Latent bipolar disorder. self diagnosed. Wake up one morning and a growly bear has taken over my personality for the day. For no good reason at all. Positive mental attitude? Sure. I am positive I am going to eat someone’s head off.
Actually the reason is that I have usually been expossed to too much noise or too much humans or too much of both. My brain needs quiet and restoration and meditation and for me to STOP.
S0 I have learned to take time out. For a bubble bath, for an hour to read fiction, to journal, to light candles, meditate…any number of things like that. More often than not I can turn the day around and fix it without wasting the whole day. AND, I am getting better at seeing it coming..the build up so I don’t wake up like that as many days anymore. Catch it ahead of time.
Wendi Kelly’s last blog post..Searching for the Stars
Amy, I had those kind of days at least once a week as a Corrections Officer.Come to think of it I was haveing those kind of days every day the last year I worked there untill I took the disability retirement that I took.
I like the frowing face. I have been there as well.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Mike Golch’s last blog post..Folk Music
Friar: Yes, relief, eh?
Truthfully, sometimes when I’m in a bad mood, my writing is on fire, in a good way. But my editing really has to wait or I might become a bit too aggressive and the academic text that was once 350 pages may end up being one chapter long accompanied by a note that says I was being generous even then. “Who the fuck’s going to read this anyway?” might be a PS on that note. So, yes, work usually waits till the mood passes. Very rarely can I edit myself out of a bad mood.
What do I do then? I go for a fast walk, I read, I sit outside in the backyard and close my eyes. If I have the car, I go out and buy something small, something I want, not need. I have dessert, read blogs I like, put on music I love. I watch a movie. I talk to my friend Renée because whenever I’m talking about bad days with her I tend to become super sarcastic and very funny.
Most of all, and first of all, however, I acknowledge my pissyness. I revel in it, wrap it around me like a dark cloak and enjoy it. Sometimes it just feels very good to be in a bad mood. Trying to deny it or saying I shouldn’t feel this way makes me angrier, so I mutter to myself profanely, let it all out, and then I’m ready to do one like the above-mentioned things.
If the day is just a crap one, when I feel no energy and struggle with everything, I know I’m just really tired or not eating properly or whatever, which will pass. Then I usually just let the flake out happen.
Amy, I love that advice about being honest. It’s helped me tremendously and I find it actually makes people laugh.
steph’s last blog post..Get Out of Your Own Way
Friar — Thanks! Yes… some days just plain suck. I used to try to analyze my way out of them or read books/articles/blogs on how to meditate my way to a bad-day-free existence, but somehow it works better just to take it easy and eat pizza.
Wendi — You and your latent bipolar disorder make me laugh every time.
Finally someone who has almost as many self-diagnoses as I do. Hehe. Like you said, sometimes a bad day can be transformed into just a bad moment. Other times (for me, at least), the harder I try to snap myself out of it the worse I feel. So again… pizza. LOL I’m all for whatever works.
Mike — I think if I were a corrections officer I would be having a lot more bad days too!!! The frown face always makes me laugh. It is about a block away. It used to be a smiling face, but someone fixed that last summer.
Steph — It is probably good that I am not an editor. There would be a lot of nasty notes going around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is all I can do some days not to call people dumbasses, and I’m pretty sure that having the title of Editor wouldn’t help me any in that respect.
I am not to the point of truly being able to revel in my pissyness, but I promise to practice hard and get back to you. 
@Steph and Amy
Yes, actually, I find I do my best paintings when I’m pissed off. My best work has been during my “Unemployment Period” in 2001 and 2004! (Heh heh heh). Not that my other stuff isn’t all right..but there’s something about ANGST and being pissed off that motivates me to paint.
And when I’m REALLY pissed off about work (which is often), I go on a rant and my humor kicks in and I’ll have my buddies in stitches.
But like Amy sez, Pizza is always good (and Nutritionists be damned!). You don’t’ get comfort food from nuts and berries.
…(ot unless you’re one of those asshole squirrels chattering away in the trees that never shuts the Flock up.
Now, THERE’s someone that’s ALWAYS in a bad mood….
…Asshole Squirrels!
Friar’s last blog post..More Things Old People Like
Amy,
Rock on, grumpy chick. I am SO with you on this.
I can’t always feel it coming, but I know it’s here when someone I’m working with gently says “I’m right in the same room” and I may have raised my voice just a few (dozen) decibels, or when every bit of food in the house does not look like it will be enough and I don’t CARE how long I’ll have to eat Lean Cuisine to make up for it (”tapeworm” days), or colors I just okayed for a project the day before all look like shades of puke…
I have to get out. Actually, I have some defect that makes me have a need to get out daily, total wanderlust, and I think those evil days are when I’ve ignored it for too many days in a row. Like, one.
1. Get in car.
2. Drive without purpose (I know, the Earth suffers. You should see the sufferring the Earth does if I don’t get out). About 45 minutes should do it.
3. Stop someplace new: a field or a city block, depending on the direction I headed, and just do something I don’t need to do.
That’s the full treatment. If exhausted is also part of the equation, I don’t want to wind up in an accident, so I drive to my favorite bagel shop instead, pull out paper, and write 52 ideas for ranting posts for the blog. Bad, not zen Kelly. When I start writing nice posts, I know I’ve let my brain “wander” enough. Then I sit and stare out the window a while and wonder why everyone else is in such a bloody hurry.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
Fried One — You paint, eh? I’d like to see an ANGST painting series de le Friar sometime (disclaimer: I don’t know French, so if that mean something gross it wasn’t intentional).
Kelly — I can see you as pissed off road trip chick, for sure. I can also see you talking to a bagel about 52 things… “Bad, not zen Kelly” sounds way fun.
Amy,
The Friar’s paintings are GORGEOUS. Go look them up on his blog.
Not-zen Kelly is a caustic, sarcastic riot. Friends love me when I’m like that, but I don’t always love me at that point. Help, there’s an alien in my skin!
Drive drive drive, get my zen back. Ahh.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..Inspiration Points: Is Hard Work the Only Way to Get Ahead?
So you see? Everyone keeps saying that we have to be happy because otherwise we bring others down. But most of us here have said that when we’re pissy we actually make people laugh!!
Kelly: I love that driving around idea. I only just got my licence in Feb, and I feel like a new woman every time I drive alone. The freedom! I wish gas were much cheaper. I’d go everywhere!!
Friar: I find myself much more focused when I’m in a bad mood. Maybe that’s why you can paint so well; you’re painting with focus and feeling. It’s neat that your stuff isn’t all black and bloody and rife with skulls but rather beautiful and almost soft. What a juxtaposition.
steph’s last blog post..Powerful Beyond Measure
Whoa, Steph, what did you do before? Your public transit must be a lot better up there.
I’ve said it before, a long-haul trucker’s job would suit me great. Except the filth and and work and being away from your family part.
I guess that’s what they get paid for, though. Not just to drive really long distances. *sigh*
Kelly’s last blog post..Road Trip: Guest Post at Just Creative Design v 2.0
Congrats on the driving, Steph. I have never driven. Never learned how, never had a license.
Going to look at Friar’s paintings now…
Talk about good first sentences, that’s a fabulous one.
Trying to ignore a bad mood day is like trying to put lipstick on a pig doncha think?
I try not to have too many of those, but recognize them when I do. I owe my best friend sooo big time . We can usually laugh ourselves out of it, or at least find the culprit and anihilate them …yep, she’s my partner in crime.
Walking helps. Walking and talking to myself also works. Be careful where you do this. Oddly , people will look at you oddly.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post..Child’s Play, Or My Inner Muse?
Janice — I’ve been trying to get that lipsticked pig image out of my head for a while now, but it just won’t happen. Next time I’ll make THAT my first sentence. LOL
LOL. No matter what shade of lipstick you pick, it’s still a pig.
I love your first sentence though. It just says it all perfectly. I am still laughing….and saying yeah, that’s how it feels sometimes.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post..Child’s Play, Or My Inner Muse?
@Kelly
I’m with you…if I’m in a funk, I like to drive.
Every once in a while, I will do a major road trip…just to drive drive drive and go sowmewhere stupid, that I’ve never been. Stay in a cheap motel or campground, and come back a couple of days later, totally refreshed.
It’s a good Control-Alt-Delete.
Once, on a long day weekend, I left Montreal Friday evening..drove to Labrador (Newfoundland), and then back again, on time for work on Tuesday.
I dont’ do this too often (maybe once or twice a year).
I think I’m due.
Friar’s last blog post..Office Haiku
@Steph
Yeah, when I paint, I wanna cheer myself up…not depress myself some more.
Ahhh…those blood and skull paintings…I’ll leave that for the Tortured Intellectuals.
Friar’s last blog post..Office Haiku
Friar,
I haven’t done a *really* long road trip in years where I didn’t have family on the other end. They’re super, but it’s not the same as just going out aimlessly and finding solitude at the end.
Bon voyage! I’m jealous.
Later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
I’m all about the reward when I’m having a bad writing day! I tell myself things like, “When I finish this outline, I’ll take the dog for a nice, long walk,” or “When I finish proofing this chapter, I’ll consume copious amounts of chocolate.”
It really helps me get through the writing ruts.
Rebecca Smith’s last blog post..Calling all my fanboys!
Janice — Now I’m wondering what my pet rabbits would look like in lipstick. One of the neighbor kids painted her dog’s toes once, and that was pretty funny.
Fried One — I had a hard time finding any paintings on your blog, but I did find one of some winter trees. I liked it. You will have to tell me where you hide the others.
About driving, used to have a friend who loved to do road trips. She’d spontaneously show up at my door at midnight and she’d drive several hours, we’d eat at some crappy diner and then turn around, then come back and go to work that morning. Those were the days. I don’t have any driving friends now.
Kelly — Didn’t you just come back from Philly? You’re always on a road trip, missy!! But I see your point. You knew you were going, so that takes the random fun out of it. How was your trip, btw?
Rebecca — Now I need a dog, and I need to learn to like chocolate again. I used to like chocolate as a kid, I think, but I don’t anymore. Maybe I can long-walk my pet rabbit and consume copious amounts of pizza?
(That made me think of the coneheads on the old Saturday Night Live where they do the “must consume mass quantities of fried swine flesh [bacon] and chicken embrios [eggs].”)
Amy,
Not a road trip: I live here. North Delaware, 20 minutes from Philly. Philly’s one of the places I go to be Someplace Else, though. Drive to a section of town I don’t know, drop in at a store where everything’s in a language I can’t speak, and look for inspiration. Or listen to the silence of total anonymity. I have definite loner tendencies which most of my real life doesn’t let me express.
(Me to client: “I can’t meet with you. I kinda hate people today.” Not going to work as a business model, eh?)
That’s not exactly getting lost, because I know the city reasonably well, but getting lost in an unfamiliar culture is a good break, too.
Later,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
Kelly — “I can’t meet with you. I kinda hate people today.” HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Sounds perfect to me.
I didn’t know you were that close to Philly. My directionally-deficientness is part of why all of America (and Cananda, and Mexico, and anyplace else I could get to without a boat) should be very grateful I can’t drive. 
Amy,
That could easily be my voicemail message 4 out of every 10 days. Does tend to put a crimp in the budget, though.
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
Oh, I thought of you today. Drove past my local AT&T store with the kid and she says “Mama, go back. There’s something wrong at that store.”
We drive in a big loop to see what she thinks is a bomb scare, and I realize that the 100 or so people lined up around the building are waiting for an iPhone. OMG, people, wait a frackin’ week. You do not HAVE to be first.
I do want one, though…
… if they’d use Sprint instead I might be in the line.
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
That’s so silly. If I didn’t already have one, I’d just order one online. In fact, that’s how I got the one I have. I’m not very patient.
‘Cuz who’s gonna drive you to the AT&T store and wait while you stand in line. He he!
Kelly’s last blog post..How You Can Be Remarkable: Write Your Own Story
@Kelly
Last year, I saw people camped outside Future Shop (outside in the winter, some even had tents).
Just to be the first to get some stupid video game.
Idiots.
My Dad used to tell me stories about WWII, when he was a kid in Poland. He’d have to line up for three hours, just to get a loaf of bread.
Kind of a different set of priorities, eh?
@Amy
As for my paintings, just click on the Catergory of “Friar’s Artwork”. That’s where all my paintings are hidden.
Click on the Post’s title to open up the link totally (otherwise you won’t see the paintings).
Friar’s last blog post..The Magic Time
Chocolate, pizza, fried swine flesh, margaritas, whatever gets you through the day (or your writing project!).
Rebecca Smith’s last blog post..Calling all my fanboys!
Kelly — There is one within walking distance. I just choose to waste my time online rather than in line with stinky people. Hehehe.
Fried One — I did click on that link, but I don’t think I clicked on the individual posts. So that explains why I didn’t see the paintings. I will look again.
Oh, and a video game line up in tents would be funny. Especially if you get as much snow as Brett does. He sent me a photo sometime in the winter that was of his house, which could barely be found under the snow. I hope someone has marketed a snow-proof tent for Canadian video game liner-uppers? 
Rebecca — I wish I wasn’t a vegetarian. That swine flesh could possibly be what I’m missing in the “must get through this lovely Friday without losing it” equation.
When I wake up with a crappy attitude, I usually try to run, bike or yoga it off. When it works, it REALLY works and I feel great. Unfortunately, chocolate has a much higher success rate than this technique. [sigh]
Eva G.’s last blog post..Book Review: Thank You For Smoking
Eva — I wish chocolate worked like that for me!!!!!!!!
Funny — I just commented somewhere else this week that we are all going to throw ourselves a pity party from time to time… and it’s OK! We don’t want to suck it up and move on. We want to wallow.
It doesn’t mean we don’t know how to handle things or keep ourselves motivated.
When things get frustrating… and they have big time this week… I’ll do physical stuff like exercise or fold laundry while watching a recorded program. I’m also a game reviewer, so playing games is a great cure for days like this.
Meryl — Thanks for stopping by. Funny that you mentioned folding laundry!! I quit smoking five months ago, and I decided that washing clothes by hand was a good stress relief. I wash most of my clothes in the sink, so wringing them out was sort of like a “stress ball” — but folding socks was also fun.
Oh, and game reviewing sounds great!! I just got a new laptop and have been playing some of the games on it. Some are very addicting. 
But stress relieving!!!
Here’s advice about playing games… play them on your secondary computer, if you have one. I never play them on my “writing” computer to avoid having them interfere with work.
Meryl K. Evans’s last blog post..8th Blog Birthday Bash Winners
Meryl — That is also good advice for anyone trying not to commit tax fraud.
The funny thing is, I NEVER played games on my old laptop. I used it for business, and for personal writing, emails and blogsurfing, etc., but no games, downloading movies, nothing like that. This new one has built-in broadband, so I’m having WAY too much fun with it. Luckily the weekend is coming, so maybe I can get it out of my system by Monday. 
I just take the day off. I don’t have writing gigs that require me to write daily for clients, so I have the luxury of saying, “Well, today sucks and I’m not going to get a thing done with this attitude I woke up with so why not…”
Sometimes it’s reading a book, other times it’s having a movie-a-thon, other times its errand shopping only to return home where I commence to cook or bake up a storm.
Alyice’s last blog post..Wooded Adventure
Alyice — That sounds very smart to me!! Movie-a-thons are a good cure. Now, if only I could cook.
Leave a Comment