Eleven Tips on 11-11-11 for the Anytime Blues

Feeling the Menopause Blues?  Or the PMS blues or any kind of blues at all?  In honor of 11-11-11, here are eleven ways to BEAT THE BLUES!

1.  Go back to your childhood.  Blow bubbles.  Ride a bike.  Yo-yo.  Get out your scrapbooks or yearbooks or picture books and lose yourself in yesterday.

2.  Change things up.  Change locations.  Change tasks.  Change the topic of the conversation.  Sometimes, change can shake up the blues and shake them away.

3.  Blast music.  Your favorite.  You’re the Boss of the Music World right now and you get to pick!

4.  Use your hands.  Paint.  Dig.  Stir.  Knit. Scrub.  Kneed.  Rake.  Hammer. Stitch.

 5.  Cheer up a shut in with a visit, a phone call, or a card.  If you have a balloon shop in your area, send a bunch of balloons. You can usually get three mylar balloons and delivery for around twenty dollars.  The cheer will come right back at ya!

6.  Escape into someone else’s story for a bit.  Read a good novel or biography.  Watch a movie.  Click here for the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller Lists.

7.  Check out The Happiness Project website of Gretchen Rubin.  She explores the whole arena of happiness and moods.

8.  Connect with other people.  We sometimes stay clear of others when we’re feeling blue, but moods improve when we’re engaged in meaningful conversations.  Call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time, just to check on him or her.  Invite a new neighbor over for tea or dessert or a drink.  Start a conversation about your finicky cat when you’re in the pet food aisle.  Maybe another cat owner needs a pick me up too!

9.  Exercise. The blues make you fight exercise, but once you get moving, the blues may just dash away.

10.  Do a task you have been procrastinating. Get that car inspected.  Deal with the hall closet.  Tell yourself, “I’m grumpy anyway, so I might as well do a project that makes me grumpy.”  This often has a reverse effect.   Your mind gets busy, too busy to think about the blues, and when you’re finished, you’re quite pleased with a task accomplished.   

11.  Try a little Retail Therapy.  Don’t drop a bundle, but purchase something simple that will brighten your mood.  So often we don’t allow ourselves to buy small things that we love, need, or crave.  New gym socks. An alarm clock with a gentler buzz.  Funky earrings your daughters will envy.

Photo:  This blue lady is chasing her blues away with Tip Number 11, Retail Therapy.  She was created by Aubrey and chosen to be part of the school art exhibit at the North Carolina State Fair.

Contest:  Mary Be won the copy of Goodnight Moon!  Mary, send me your address, and I’ll send you “In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon and a ….”