What to do when you feel like crap

Every so often I experience one of those total OFF days. I wake up groggy having not slept well, something I ate the day before didn’t sit well and my digestion is dragging, my mind is foggy and all I feel like doing is staying in bed. I try to journal it out but the words aren’t coming. I try to get some work done but I keep getting distracted… by literally everything! The hours pass, I feel like a total slug and nothing of any real value is getting accomplished. Realising this, I feel even worse but still can’t seem to pull myself out of the ditch and be more productive. Anxiety starts to creep in. The day passes slowly, painfully, in a deep fog…

Thankfully this does not happen all too frequently but when it does, it’s the absolute worst! These total crap days seem to strike out of nowhere, draining my body and mind of its creative juice and flow from the days prior and throwing off my momentum. Everything feels harder, heavier, and more frustrating.

For a long time I used to think I was alone in experiencing days like this but I now realise how silly that is. We ALL have off days sometimes. Your crap day may differ a bit from mine but I think we can all relate to feeling at times like we just want this blah of a day to END already.

So what do you do? Sit and fester in the uncomfortable feelings and try your best to ride them out til you go to bed? This was basically what I used to do in the past but there is a better way! Over time and with much practice, I’ve learned to address my uncomfortable feelings on the spot, move through them and get to a place where I at least can feel some level of peace.

Since today is kind of feeling like one of those off days for me, I thought I’d take you through my list of 7 steps that tend to always help and make me feel better.

1) Take a shower

Cleanse your emotions while you cleanse your body. I love this one because it’s productive, easy to do and it really works well by changing your state. Showers just have a way of making you feel more clear-headed. Also the physical act of standing under flowing water is one of beautiful surrender – a quality we usually need more of when experiencing a hard day.

2) Take a sweaty workout class

I’ll admit, I’m the “gentle flow” kind of girl and a high-intensity, sweaty class at the gym isn’t normally my cup of tea. But when you’re feeling sluggish and off, sometimes this kind of class is what really gets things to shift. Again, it’s all about changing your state. This could be anything from a long sweaty run to a hot yoga class to a zumba workout.

I’ll never forget this one time when I was feeling SO crappy and out of it… I pushed myself to go to a new studio in my area and take a cardio “boot camp” kind of dance class that included some light weight-lifting. Totally NOT my thing!! But I went and you know what? It was kind of fun. It distracted me and got me moving and when I left the class I felt lighter. And that’s really what we’re going for, right?

3) Dance

On that note… dancing (even in the comfort of your own room) will do a lot to shift your mood. While any kind of dance can be helpful, often I feel like the best results come from wild, ecstatic dance – the kind of dance that has no set “moves” and you go with whatever your body is feeling. This kind of wild dancing is most effective at getting stuck emotions out, plus the physical act of moving with music will get your endorphins flowing. You might feel a little self-conscious when you start but this goes away over time.

4) Meditate

This one might have to happen after one or more of the above if you’re anything like me. When I’m feeling really off, sitting down to meditate feels like THE hardest thing in the world to do. It also feels like the last thing on earth I want to do. Even when I push myself to do the seemingly impossible (aka sit down in a cross-legged seat with my eyes closed, ready to begin!) sometimes it’s still a huge struggle to focus my mind. This is coming from someone who regularly meditates every day and has been doing so for years!

Just know that if you can at least sit for a few minutes and do your best, this helps. When I’m feeling a lot of resistance, I’ll often restrict my meditation time to just breathing and monitoring my own breath with my eyes closed, slowly lengthening the time of each inhale and exhale. Do this for 5 minutes (even 3 minutes!) and I promise you’ll feel different.

5) Take a walk

On those days when your body is just not feeling the more active workout stuff, a simple walk will get you the movement you need to start clearing your mind and body. Just make sure that walk actually includes going outside and not just walking around your house! The fresh air aspect here is important. And yes, if it’s cold or rainy or any kind of extreme weather condition happening, you won’t want to do this and will try to convince yourself that it’s healthier to just stay inside. Take a walk outdoors anyway. Commit to at least 5 minutes of active walking time and if you still aren’t enjoying it at that point, you can always go back. If you can walk in nature, this is even better.

6) Do a fruit fast

One thing I have learned is that the state of our mind is quite intricately tied to the state of our digestive system. Meaning that if you’re having one of those days where you just can’t seem to get yourself going no matter what, it’s worth looking into what you ate the day before (or even a couple days before). For me personally, if my digestion is ever off and I get that sluggish feeling, 99% of the time it’s due to one or both of these things: either I ate too much fat the day before or I’m traveling and the time zones have thrown my body off.

These days most of us are eating way more fat than our livers can actually handle and are getting the majority of our calories from fat (instead of carbs which is much healthier). A lot of this stuff I have only just learned in the past couple years as the exact opposite had been taught to me in nutrition school.🙈 Anyways… if I DO get that sluggish, cranky, irritable or unsettled feeling, usually it’s because my liver was overburdened by more fat than it could handle and the best fix for that is fruit! A full day of fruit fasting does two things – 1) it floods your body with soft, water-rich, easy to digest nutrition and 2) it eliminates any overt fat in the diet, giving your body a rest so it can start detoxing and pushing the gunk out.

7) Pamper yourself

Ok I know what you might be thinking… HOW can I possibly take the time to pamper myself when I have a million other more important things that need to get done? I have been in this position so many times. The thing is, I’ve learned from past experience that rarely does anything productive get done when I’m feeling like crap. That’s the unfortunate truth. I spend the whole day fighting myself and “trying” to do work, trying to get things done… but at the end of the day, don’t have all that much to show for it because I’m operating at such a low emotional state. On top of that, I usually end up feeling worse the more I push myself to “work through it.”

Rather than fight myself, what I often do now (unless I truly have an urgent MUST DO on my list), is surrender to what I’m feeling. I make a conscious choice to put all the other stuff on the backburner for a couple hours or half a day or even sometimes the whole day – because truthfully it almost always CAN wait. And I invest in some juicy selfcare. The worse I’m feeling, the more selfcare is generally required. This might look like a nap in bed or a movie night, going for a massage or making something delicious and creative to eat. It might mean dousing myself in essential oils and doing my hair or putting on something that makes me feel beautiful or making some crafts. All of this selfcare stuff (which is really act-of-love stuff) matters.

One time when I was feeling like crap, I decided to spontaneously book it out of town. I jumped on a train and traveled an hour and a half to a forested nature reserve where I could immerse myself in green plant life for the day and feel at peace. At the time I remember thinking that what I was doing was crazy and irresponsible… No, what I was actually doing was saving myself and responding to a need.

One of the biggest lies I feel like we often tell ourselves in this world is the lie that the more time we take off to enjoy ourselves, the less important stuff gets done. And the more slacker/lazy/BAD we are. What we don’t consider is the fact that happiness creates productivity. It creates momentum, motivation, enthusiasm. Happiness and joy bring us back in touch with our inner light and this inner light is your ticket to re-igniting your mojo.

Operating in a state of joy and excitement is what can make a normally slow, painful 2-hour project take just 30 minutes to zip through. Don’t believe me? Try it as an experiment! I have found that the better I’m feeling, the better quality work I put out, and in way less time.

When you make it a priority to get yourself in a better feeling state, you will always get more done and in a way that feels like flow as opposed to force.

So those are my 7 best steps to getting out of the funk and into a better feeling state. I also want to mention that in addition to any of the steps you take above, it always helps to get a good, long night’s sleep. Never underestimate the power of an amazing sleep! I can’t tell you how many miserable crappy days I’ve had in the past that felt like lightyears away the next morning after waking from a really deep, rejuvenating 8+ hour sleep.

When all else fails, go to bed early and sleep it off, knowing that the day is over, tomorrow is a fresh start, and nothing stays the same forever. That includes a crappy feeling.