Fight The Funk
I woke up in a funk. It’s challenging having a bad day when you share a life with anyone, especially a baby. He wakes up smiling and bright eyed literally every morning. Even when I get crap for sleep, I still stumble in with a big smile on my face, excited to see our little boy. But today felt different. I had a hard time pulling it together. Whatever is going on, Mercury Retro-something, a full moon, Venus Rising (?)… I feel it. Seems like it’s in the air because a handful of my friends feel “it,” too.
One way I cope with feeling down is to let myself get totally immersed in it. Watch a movie that makes me bawl (The Notebook, Philadelphia or the Pursuit of Happyness does the trick), vent to friends, or call my mom and let it all out (thank you, mom). I believe what you resist, persists, so I do my best to not resist to the point of practically indulging in it. Then I’m so sick of feeling blue that I’m ready to move on.
I was heading out to take Julian on a stroll and stopped to say bye to Mark. He ran over from his morning workout and gave me a big hug, kiss and said some special things that hit home, made me feel in good company and uplifted my mood. I had planned to sob to my mom but after his loving goodbye, I walked slowly, meditated and took in the morning. I felt lighter and had a new sense of optimism. It is true that you just need one person in the world who “gets” you to feel sane.
When he was done with his workout, Mark joined our stroll and asked “want to go to Disneyland?!” The part of me that was still feeling down immediately thought “no way!” But when my mouth opened, “YES, let’s go!” came out.
40 minutes later we were in the car heading to Anaheim. It was the perfect, traffic-free, 1 hour and 9 minute drive. Once I stepped out of the car at the hotel’s valet, my body relaxed and I knew this was going to be good.
We went on some rides, Jules pushed the stroller around the park, we ate churros, held hands and cuddled on Small World. We did something that felt like the old-us, but as the new-us. Being in the Happiest Place on Earth with my big guy and our little guy, was exactly what my soul needed. I didn’t realize that doing something we used to do before we were parents but with Jules this time, would fill us up as much as it did.
Going to Disneyland may not be practical each time we’re feeling down, but there are other versions of “Disneyland” out there. Visiting a favorite shop, nail salon, movie-theater, cafe or going on my favorite walk in the Venice Canals, can be just as good.
When I’m feeling down I see that I have two options to recover, I can be with the emotions totally or change things up immediately. Today, we decided to change things up. And instead of a day full of sob stories and sad movies, we had a day full of love and fun, creating new awesome memories and refilling our love tanks.
How do you turn a funky day around? Do you need alone time, do you connect with people, workout...? How has it changed now that you're a parent? I'd love to hear what has worked for you and how you have evolved!