One Simple Trick To Feel Better Instantly
Seriously, it’s dead simple
Exceptionally precious angels of love and light! (Yes, I am addressing you. Take the compliment.)
I have been in some down-ass places over the course of my life.
Sometimes they were normal but deeply sucky, like a client in my freelance writing business firing me.
Sometimes they were less normal and even more sucky, like having to quit my job because of a suicidal episode.
But! Regardless of circumstances, there was one thing. One task. One short process that didn’t necessarily fix the situation (that took years of therapy), but did make me feel a little better about life in general in approximately ten minutes max.
And it is…
*drumroll*
Cleaning something.
Why Cleaning Something Is An Extremely Effective Upper
Seriously, if you’re feeling super shitty, go organize a junk drawer. Clean your room. Mop the kitchen floor. It’s shocking how much better you will feel.
I attribute the effectiveness of this method to three things:
- When you clean, you’re exerting control over your corner of the world. Is everything outside terrible forever and your world is crumbling? Maybe! But I wanted this closet clean and now it is. You’ve taken a little piece of agency back in your life.
- It distracts you. It’s difficult to think about the manifold ways in which you fucked up that client’s project when you’re super focused on that one spot that will come out of the blanket you’re washing because god damn it, I SAID SO.
- You’re doing something useful. When you clean something when you’re really down, you’re proving your own usefulness and competence to yourself. People have a need to feel useful, to contribute, to be needed. And even if you’re the only person who will benefit from cleaning the thing, it’s still a useful activity that provides a clear benefit.
- Cleaning provides immediate gratification. There is no delay between cleaning a thing and being able to look at the newly-cleaned thing and go, “hell yeah, I did that.” It is a task with visible results and a clear beginning, middle, and end. It gives you a very tangible win.
There you have it, my lovely ones! The super-simple trick I use to feel immediately better, no matter the situation. Again, will it fix everything? No. But it will get you into a slightly better state.
A state you can use to go tackle that problem :).
To the sock drawer!