How to Turn it Around When You’ve Got the Blues

I’ve had “one of those days”. You know when lots of small, irritating things happen – nothing earth-shatteringly bad, just a whole bunch of annoyances of various magnitudes?

I won’t list ALL the things that have happened today (you know, for TMI/too much information reasons), but suffice to say I’m starting the weekend irritated, grumpy and cheesed off. I don’t actually have an answer to my statement of “how to get over the blues when everything irritates you” – that’s where I’m hoping you lovely lot will come in!

So, to start at the beginning…

The main cause for my general frustration at the moment is our house sale. I know I was warned about how laborious, long and frustrating buying and selling a house would be, but when we bought our first house way back in 2004 the whole deal was done in six weeks from offer to handing over the keys. We were first-time buyers, there was only the one house in the chain, and it was all super quick.

(This was DESPITE the estate agent telling us we weren’t serious buyers and that the sellers would pull out, making me cry at work – I found the letter of complaint I wrote to the director of the estate agent the other day. To this day we have NO IDEA why they told us this and neither did our solicitors, who promptly told the estate agent never to contact me directly again.)

Anyway – the joys of estate agents aside (apologies if you ARE one!), we have only two houses in our chain: the one we’re buying as it’s a new build, and our current home that we’re selling (our buyer is currently living with friends so she’s ready to go). I’m getting to my wit’s end about when we’ll move because I’d hoped it’d be a lot quicker than this. The fact that Riley is unwell and one of the reasons that we wanted to move was to have more space for him (interior space AND outdoor green space) is irritating me because we don’t know how long he’s got. We want him to have a decent amount of time in the new house, and every week that goes by means less time for him in the new place.

Yes we’re chasing them, we’re on top of all the paperwork, we’ve told our solicitors we want to be in by the end of June. With no completion date in sight yet, June is looking unlikely now.

 

When everything irritates you and you’ve got the blues

All of this means that I’m easily irritated by ANYTHING. Lots of things (from small irritations to “you’re ***ing joking me” levels) happened today – to me, to Keith, to Riley – to other people I care about. I had several important documents to post today, and to my delight our post office was closed “until further notice” when I got there. I have no car during the day and a bus journey to the next town/village would have been too late and taken too long.

I also got a blister walking the 300 feet to our local post office (I mean, seriously, shoes?), so that added to the fun. Then there’s the sore neck and shoulder I’ve had for a few weeks which is now hideously painful as of this morning (I mean, seriously, body? is leg pain not enough?).

I don’t think PMS is to blame for my irritability – I’m not feeling weepy, just… cross. Though maybe it is PMS after all? My cycle is getting shorter and shorter, so that and a few other factors are making me think I might be in perimenopause, but that’s a post for another day.

I’ve already apologised to Keith for my grumpiness, in fact I apologised as soon as he walked in the front door because he probably took one look at my face and thought “Oh my god, what’s happened…“. I can’t count on two hands (without taking my shoes and socks off) all the other annoyances that have happened today.

All I can say is: grrrrrrrrrr…!!

I know these are all First World Problems. BUT – boy, can it drag you down. As I’m writing this Keith’s just reminded me about the World Cup starting today… I wanted to watch the Egypt vs Uruguay match at lunchtime and completely forgot because of the other stuff going on. [Add it to my growing list of irritations.] I know football isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I like watching the World Cup, for me missing the first game is like missing the start of a new drama series – I feel a bit left out. I need this day to end!

 

Any good tips for when you’ve got the blues…?

So this is where you come in: I need some tips on how to pull myself out of this irritable rut. How do I turn it around when I feel really, really unpositive (made-up word I know, but I deliberately didn’t want to write “negative”)? I’ve got the whole weekend in front of me – I have to drive to the next village tomorrow morning and get my letters and parcels sent off at the post office, I need to get some photos done for the blog at some point and Keith is out on Sunday morning, but other than that, we don’t have solid plans.

Any ideas are welcome – we don’t want to be driving too far anywhere and I can’t afford anything too costly due to all the house moving expenses, but ideas for simple, cheap and effective things would be most welcome. Ideas for things to help my BRAIN get in the right frame of mind would be most welcome.

A massive, massive thank you in advance…!

DO PLEASE TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS: WHAT TIPS DO YOU HAVE TO GET YOURSELF OUT OF THE IRRITABLE BLUES? I’M OPEN TO ANY IDEAS x

P.S. Keith’s just told me the boiler’s stopped working and there are red lights flashing everywhere. Friday 15 June 2018, I need you to get stuffed…

LIKE THIS POST? YOU MIGHT ALSO WANT TO READ:

– Treat Yourself: It’s So Important for Well Being
– Be Kind… You Never Know What Someone Is Going Through
– Making the Most of Every Moment 

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