When you're feeling blue, down, anxious, worried, or whatever - what do you do that helps you to feel better?

I snuggle with my dog or do some training with her, and that always cheers me up. I use clicker training, which is a technique that engages the dog and lets them be an equal partner in the training - there's no punishment for guessing wrong when I'm training her to do something new and I let her figure out what I want by experimenting. She always makes me laugh! Some of the behaviors she comes up with when I tell her "show me something new" are hilarious.

Back when I had a bathtub I used to take long, hot soaks in a bubble bath with a candle lit next to me, a good book, and something yummy to eat. That always made me feel better too.

Go Book Shopping! It's about the only thing that puts me in a better frame of mind.

I find sharing hugs with someone you love works wonders.

I like to go shopping too but if I can't do that I just veg out all day in front of the TV

Like Sand, I like to go book shopping to make me feel better. But that's the only thing I like to shop for.

Cuddling with a Rotten puppy helps too.

Eating!! :blush:

Oh yeah, that, too! :blush:

1- I find my kitty to cuddle 2- Find stash of Chocolate!

I hate all other shopping too! :sick:

Chocolate works wonders.

I sometimes find myself becoming depressed and I just don't allow it. I know that sounds funny, but honestly I just tell myself, that I will not feel bad and basically force myself into a better mood.

I'm the exact opposite with that. If I'm seriously worried or upset about something (or sick with the flu), I won't eat at all. Food has no taste whatsoever for me. Just blah. And this is never a good thing for me because I waste away to nothing. I'm one of those skinnies who drops 5 or more pounds in a matter of a couple of days when I stop eating. :(

When I'm seriously depressed I don't eat at all. :(

Eat chocolate and potato chips...
Call my mother or brother...

I'm the same way. During finals in college, I once lost almost 10 pounds - it was scary. :blink: I get stressed and busy and just forget to eat. In those situations, I have to force myself to eat because nothing has any taste, and I just forget.

Shop! :D

I used to go book-shopping as a first choice, but since the books started taking over my house, I've switched to things like sofa pillows, placemats, lampshades, or spices. No problem for me to give the old ones to the Salvation Army after they're replaced (unlike old books; gotta read those first!).

Depends- if I'm sad music will cheer me up- loud rock n roll does the trick. If I'm bored then I usually eat something (i'f I'm feeling sluglike) or go to the gym, or go online...

This is usually my best place to cure the blues.... :wub:

I shop online and it doesn't really matter what I shop for.

I also eat and eat and eat and eat!

If it's full-on depression and the bf isn't available for hugs, I turn to my favorite TV shows. My absolute #1 cure is popping in a Gilmore Girls DVD. There's something so darn heartwarming about that show, that no matter what the episode was about, I come away feeling better about things. Sometimes it takes an entire DVD (4 episodes), but it's never failed me. Goes even better w/ a big bowl of kettle corn - I'm insanely addicted to the stuff. A heck of a lot less fat than chocolate or ice cream, but all the "cure" power of the fully-leaded stuff.

Other cures:
Going for a long drive in the dark, blasting some of my favorite music and singing along. The breath control required for singing is very similar to some of the meditative breathing techniques that are recommended to cope w/ anxiety. Belting out the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, or a couple discs of 'til Tuesday always makes me feel better.

Talking myself down from a panic and taking a nap is good, too. I get my most stressy/anxious/whatever when I'm sleep deprived, so talking myself down "fromt he ledge" (as it were) and taking a nap always helps.

For the really serious stuff, I wholeheartedly recommend a book called "The Feeling Good Handbook" by Dr. David Burns. It looks like a cheesy self-help book on the surface, but it unquestionably changed my life. Just before Christmas, I started a steep backslide that resulted in severe depression, anxiety, and irrational bursts of intense emotion (anger, sorrow, etc). I made a commitment to give the book a fair go and spent a week reading it cover to cover and stopping to do the exercises along the way. It was amazing! Completely revolutionized my ability to cope and relax. All my anxiety melted away, and the depression has been light and manageable.

I mope. Haven't figured out a solution. :(

I'm good at that too.

I wish I could read when I am upset... gotta work on training myself to do that, but usually my mind is too busy and I end up having my mind wander back to the problem so I can't get anything read. I have found that watching a sitcom like That 70s Show seems to help a bit.

Last night I just chose the moping option though. :(

Yeah, last night was a bummer for me, too, and I thought shopping for books online would help, but it just made me feel guilty for spending money when I've got thousands of unread books in front of me, so I ended up not buying anything. :rolleyes:

I'm going to try to exert my energy to cleaning from now until Sunday morning. (well, when I'm not at work) I know CTGMOM is taking me book shopping on Sunday so I figure I'll try to continue working on my "library" and sorting out my apartment a bit between now and then.

WOW, mid. We must have been seperated at birth. Except for the gilmore girls-thing. I love kettle corn (almost as much as dark chocolate). I love that book! It's fantastic, and I re-read it every 3-5 years or so, when I start to forget some of the stuff and get negative. Singing while driving - Yup(screaming helps "get it out" too). Naps help - yup.

The only thing you didn't mention is going for a walk. The excercise endorphins help me feel better and the time outdoors always clears my head. If it's nasty out, even going to the gym will help.

Curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee or hot tea works wonders for me. My healthy escapism.

I am exactly like you Wendy. I tell myself not to be like this. The forced happiness eventually becomes real while I do stuff like cooking [but not eating the food], cleaning, reading some type of books [Elizabeth Berg, chicklit or cozies!], singing, playing the piano, listening to music, talking to my friends and sometimes shopping if I've been cheering myself up for a couple of days! My new trick is to put on swing music and just start swing dancing, it's awesome!

I feel that way too. I don't like shopping for anything much more than books. But I do have to feel better in order to buy them. So I do mope. I used to shut myself in my room and listen to music. But that doesn't give me much pleasure anymore when I know I have no me time to do that. There is always something going on that won't get done. Too bad there is no cooperation from Meg.

I find myself trying to steal time to watch 1 of my movies that I know will put me in a better mood. Lately I've been keeping things to myself and writing in LJ. It helps a little.

shopping (trying to avoid that one), eating some comfort food (also trying to avoid), dancing to some fun music, looking through my photo/trip albums, go for a walk.

I cook. I am Italian -its in the blood. I probably get more pleasure out of cooking for and feeding others than I do anything else. I am happiest in the kitchen with a hoard to feed.

I also like to go out to a movie allowing myself to have a "real" coke "real" movie popcorn and alot of it and a box of junior mints makes it much more special and uplifing than sitting home watching something I own or from Netflix with the usual diet Coke, low cal microwave popcorn and no candy.

Finally, a bath, a book and a tall glass of diet Coke or Crystal Light go a long way toward making me feel better after a crappy day.