Last week I wrote an article about the best way to make yourself feel better when you physically can’t. I decided that this week I would write about how to make yourself feel happy when you mentally can’t. Yes, I am doing this on purpose because there was a major upset in the country from the election; yes, I am purposefully doing this so you know how to care for yourself during finals; yes, I am doing this for you.
I asked the Hercampus Ithaca team for their input on this, so here we go:
1. Puppy videos/Dogs/Those Really Nice Fluffy Things That Walk Around Sometimes: How can you not smile when you see a puppy?! Dogs are just great companions to have and I have never not looked at a dog and not felt some warm, fuzzy happy feeling inside my belly! Dogs are genuinely happy to see you, its written on their faces and in their wagging tail when you approach them with such enthusiasm. Here’s a link to all the puppy feels you need in your day:
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUPkOfSGq8 )[OB1]
2. Online Shopping/Window Shopping:
Okay, this one was definitely a guilty pleasure for the team. I have to admit that when it comes to online shopping, I somehow always end up on the apartment or home decorating department of the stores and begin to imagine how I want my future space (whether it is a house or an apartment) to look like. Why do I do this? I ask myself that question more often than you think and it comes down to this: by the time I am able to live on my own and in my own space, the thing that is stressing me out and making me feel unhappy will be over and I was able to pull through and end in a happy place.
3. Ice Cream:
Hopefully you are a Gilmore Girls fan, or maybe you have just seen the episode or maybe you just knot this BUT: according to Lorelai Gilmore, ice cream is essential to the wallowing process. It is colder than the shoulder you wish to give to the person who did you wrong; it’s creaminess and milky-ness (or lactase, if you are a dairy free person) is the reason why that fiery anger in your stomach subsides; and its sweetness brings back your serotonin levels (well, that s what we’ll tell ourselves instead of really looking at the nutrition facts).
4. Funny TV Shows/Movies:
I have to say that taking a moment or an hour or two to watch a funny television show or movie is very helpful when you want to be happy. And no, you cannot watch your dramatic television show instead of watching a funny movie because you don’t want to add in to your anger or your stress over a fictional character or be thinking about how Shonda killed Derrek and basically everyone else. In this moment, you want to forget what is stressing you and making you frustrated. You want to laugh, for a long time and really, really hard.
5. Comfort Food:
If ice cream is on this list, then of course so would be comfort foods – which most of the time may not be as healthy as we would want them to be, but that is a-okay! These comfort foods are supposed to remind us of a much simpler time in our lives, maybe when we were younger and ate our mac n cheese with dinosaur chicken nuggets or smiley face French fries (#Only90sKidsWillRemember) or when we drank hot chocolate when it rained for days in April and we couldn’t go outside to play because “it was too muddy”. Whenever I eat my comfort food, I always think about our the past me would be so proud of me and what I have accomplished thus far. I know that she would be okay with me being a little sad and not perfect all of the time – because we all know that we can’t be perfect all of the time. What past me would want the most is that we both end up happy after it all. Is there really anymore that anyone could ask?
I personally believe that people can be helped and shouldn’t have all negative thoughts on their minds, therefore, if I see you frowning around, I will give you a compliment or try to tell you a joke in order for you to make you crack a small smile. I do my best to try to make people’s day a little brighter – and if this list has helped you in any way, share it with your friends, add your own take to it and (most importantly) try to make someone smile.