Soul-Fed Mama: Take Charge Of Your Bad Mood
You know those days when everything seems to go wrong from the moment you get out of bed?Your shampoo bottle is empty and you don’t notice until you are already in the shower. The shirt you were planning on wearing got put away with a big spot on it. The kids spill the cereal all over the floor and then walk though it. The little one spends all of breakfast pulling on your pant leg and climbing on you while you try to chug down the coffee that is already cold.And then it just continues like that from there. Bad mood central.Mornings like that are enough to make me snap. I had one yesterday and I ended up abandoning my daughter and partner in the kitchen and hiding in the back yard to drink my coffee. My daughter found me after a couple of minutes and stood at the door crying because she couldn’t get to me.Running away didn’t actually help.What finally did help was taking a moment (outside, before I opened the door) to take a deep breath and re-set my mood. I acknowledged to myself that I was tired and frustrated and really wished I was having a different morning. And then I set it aside, opened that door and picked up my daughter. She clung to my neck and said, “I rewey rewey need you, mama.”I didn’t feel better right away, but instead of holding up each struggle as evidence of my bad day I just chose to step past them and move on. By lunch time I realized I was feeling pretty good. [Tweet "You have the power to turn your day around."]When I’m short-tempered and cranky, cranky what I’m going to get back from my daughter and from everyone else I interact with. But when I’m relaxed and pleasant, that’s what I’m likely to have returned.The world doesn’t owe it to me to fix my bad mood. I owe it to myself to be responsible for my own mood. I can’t change how anyone else interacts with me, I can only change myself. But when my perspective is pleasant, I’m likely to invite pleasantry in return.What is your best tip for dealing when you find yourself frustrated or cranky?