How to get out of a funk…

This week has NOT been my week. I have gotten scolded by my boss for not being able to tell a story and told to take writing classes (can you imagine??) and my laptop screen has a big fat juicy crack right at the top. Not enough to be an excuse not to work but just enough to scream IRRESPONSIBLE at me every time I open my computer.

On top of that… I am just kind of grumpy! My body image is down the toilet these days and no matter how much yoga I do or iced lattes I guzzle, I just can’t seem to shake this rut I’m in.

Now yes, before you say it, I am in therapy. I love my therapist she’s great. And this list is by no means a way to cure anyone’s depression. I don’t claim to have any mental health expertise bar my own life experience. This is simply the quest to find a “funk” alleviating solution parcelled neatly into a listicle. Why? Because it makes me feel like the main character and romanticizing my whining and subsequent problem solving suites me.

1. CRY your way out of the funk

Really lean into the cry. Call some friends! Cry on the phone! Slam your door and cry alone! Heck, look in the mirror and cry, put on some mascara and get a very dramatic crying aesthetic. You can do it!

I have already accomplished quite a lot of this. It has not yet succeeded in alleviating any of my distress as I am still obviously writing this. Though this has not been my tonic on this occasion a good cry can most certainly help you out in a funk. It has helped me in many a funk. I am a huge pro-cryer.

According to a Healthline post I just googled to fact-check myself: crying is good for you! Mentally and physically. To oversimplify it immensely: It gets out all the sad and gives you the good feelings.

2. Walk away from the funk

Yum yum yum delicious vitamin D give it to me! Also probable decrease in cortisol (stress hormone).

Allow me to elaborate. There has been some research suggesting that walking, especially in a “forrest environment” decreases cortisol. Moreover, vitamin D is certainly linked to good mental health. More than that, exercise just makes you feel good! When you are in a funk, convincing yourself to do a HIIT workout or drag your butt to the gym or pool can seem impossible. However a walk? Glorious, easy, and possibly involving an iced coffee at one end. Cannot be beat!

To quote legally blonde: “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”

So yeah, it is well worth your energy. You will feel better I promise. Just get your butt outside for a walk.

Okay.. . unfortunately this will not be a two item list. As much as I have walked and cried and any combination of the two… my funk remains. Usually this is all I need to get out of it. I was going to make item number three listening to some good tunes. But I have done that too!! Is this funk immovable? Am I just funked up forever?

I hope not. I think I may have a few more things up my sleeve yet.

3. Call a funky friend

This one is ABSOLUTELY not working for me these days. I have been EXTREMELY irritable this week and anyone talking makes my skin prickle and fills me with the rage of a thousand suns no matter how sweet they are being . BUT – normally this one is my go-to!

Let’s table this as a great one for lifting spirits if you are sad but not so much if you are grumpy. I have not bitten anyone yet but I won’t deny that it has crossed my mind. So…

I would recommend that if your funk is of the blue variety – call someone who will uplift you. Think about the friends in your life who you feel more energized after talking to and select those as the ones to call. It may sound obvious but calling someone who makes you more tired no matter how much you love them, may not help to un-funk you. In fact it may funk you further.

4. Blow away the funk? Yoga? Meditation? Something that forces you to BREATHE

Adriene from Yoga with Adriene has a hilarious yoga video called “Yoga for when you feel dead inside” I really recommend it. She also has a few meditations which I really find very grounding.

I think Yoga works really well if you are present for it and focus on your breathing. Who couldn’t use a little extra oxygen after all!

Of course yoga has like a million benefits and I am in a funk so I am giving myself permission to not do all the research and list them all to you here right now. BUT some grounding exercises or controlled breathing can also do you some good even if you don’t have yoga available to you in the moment.

The key is to centre yourself, relax, and remind yourself that in this exact moment you are okay, you are alive, you are okay! I am doing it right now as I am writing this and hey! It is giving me some relief! I wouldn’t say that my funk is gone but I am for sure a little calmer.

5. Sleep

OH NOOOOOOOOO this one is my least favourite because it has been eluding me lately.

I have been so determined to have a good sleep this entire week! I have gone to bed early I have listened to audiobooks I have tried imagining clouds carrying away all my thoughts. The whole deal! I cannot seem to get a good sleep. It is driving me CRAZY.

As someone who has mentioned lattes at more than one occasion in this blog I will say that I am not having caffein after 2pm BUT I am guilty of over-indulging a little bit.

I have been laying awake, tossing, turning, begging sleep to come. And then, I have been awakened by my lovely cats every morning yelling in my ear that it is ATTENTION TIME!

It’s okay, I should fix my sleep hygiene. But these things take time! Don’t they? I don’t know! When I have a good sleep schedule I definitely feel less funky. But how shall I grasp this?

6. Well… maybe we all saw this coming but I think consistency is key to funk removal

Truth be told… I have tried everything that normally makes me feel better! But, and I am sure my fellow Aries will empathize with my difficulty here, I think this funk might require some patience.

Prior to this funk I have been kind of neglectful of myself. We have had company, my sleep has been out of order, there have been weeks at a time where I have done nothing on my funk removal list! And maybe the key to funk removal is funk prevention.

That is not to say that I won’t claw myself out of this. Certainly I will and I will keep you all updated on the process. But when it comes down to it, I should be consistent and I should be patient and hey, if I don’t like feeling like this I should be a little kinder to myself on a daily basis… not just when I am feeling low!

7. Identify the source of the funk even though this should have been step one because you decided to write a blog post about it because your boss told you that you are bad at writing

The source of the funk is low self esteem and the cause is not living in alignment with things that I like and I am good at combined with not taking care of myself or treating myself nicely!!

…I think.

Only time will tell. I have had the idea to start a blog or a vlog for a long time and my friend suggested that I make a podcast called winging it due to the fact that I have a pretty cute winged liner if I do say so myself.

I think this blog post could serve as a debut. I would in future want to talk about more researched topics. I think I could really have a good time making this. Maybe I will turn it into a video? Anyway. I could perhaps update on how my life changes if I consistently follow the funk-prevention rules for now!

Let’s see. Here’s winging it for now. Good luck!