Stop Feeling Sad (For No Reason)

Stop feeling sad for no reason. Stop placing all of your happiness into whether or not your crush will text you back. Stop feeling a vague sense of melancholy, something that you aren’t able to pinpoint but you know is there.

I woke up today feeling that quiet sense of melancholy. The steps I took on the way to the bathroom felt heavy and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I could see myself cringing. This doesn’t happen very often, I don’t usually meet the day with a “Screw you!” kind of attitude but when I do, I get angry. How is it possible to feel so crappy at 8:30 in the morning? Actually wait, how is it possible to feel great at 8:30 in the morning? This is dumb though. These feelings aren’t real. I’m choosing to be in a sour mood. When there’s nothing there to make me feel sad, it’s quite clear that I’m the reason. I’m the one who’s making myself feel miserable. And since I’m the one who got me there, I can also be the one who gets me out.

For those of us who don’t have chemical imbalances but are rather just prone to feeling a boatload of emotions, we have to learn not to indulge every thought we have. It’s difficult though. With people who suffer from analysis paralysis and melancholia, it’s like we’re constantly betraying ourselves. We get upset over minute things and then get upset over the fact that we’re upset. We get sad that the amazing person we went on a date with last week hasn’t asked us to go on another one, and then we get angry at ourselves for giving the person so much power. We choose the things that control us. We give our phone a lot of power. We get bummed out about text messages and phone calls and, oh my god, it shows that they read my text but haven’t responded back! We give the internet a lot of power. When someone doesn’t follow us back on Twitter or write on our Facebook wall, we fall into a spiral of grief. Why?

We need to start figuring out what emotions are legitimate and which ones are bogus. If you’re feeling things every minute of every day, some posers are bound to sneak in through the back door of your brain. These posers are meant to veer you off track and get you upset for no reason, but they don’t come from a genuine place. They’re as fake as a Prada bag on Canal Street. We don’t like to admit it but sometimes we like falling into ruts for no reason. It reminds us that we’re alive and that SOMETHING is happening to us. Who cares if it’s good or bad?! I’m sad and it’s better than nothing!

Except it’s not better. In fact it’s a lot worse. All of those times you feel this vague sense of sadness, all of those times you let the posers in, add up to something major in the end. So we have to stop indulging every emotion we have. We have to realize we have control over these Monica “JUST ONE OF THEM DAYS” kinds of moods. Because they’re so not real. Seriously. Screw Monica for giving vague sadness some power! Not a month goes by that someone doesn’t post that video on their Facebook with the caption: “Sing it, Monica. Just one of them days…” Give yourself more credit than that. You know what I did this morning when I felt myself going into Monica territory? I stopped the “Just one of them days” bus and danced to some Rolling Stones. Now I’m all better. Don’t let your emotions punk you. Chances are you’re feeling something that’s not even there. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

image – Sweet&Sadistic

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