Feeling Grumpy and Buried in Negativity?

It’s hard sometimes when working on any large, complicated project (oh….say….like a dissertation) not to get a bit overwhelmed. It’s a natural part of creating a new order to disparate bits and pieces of information. In fact, it’s not something that can really be avoided.

But we make it even harder when we take personal responsibility for the overwhelm and attribute it to some past and/or present failing of our own.

I happened to come across a lovely blog post from a student from the U of Penn Master’s Applied Positive Psychology Program, Dave Shearon. He describes his experience of having a “grumpy day” and some of his strategies for getting past it.

My favorite part from On A Grumpy Day is his list of what he does to learn to get past it:

Is it a conscious effort with me?  You bet it is!  I take my own medicine.  I do Three Good Things [ed: also known as 3 Blessings or 3 Gratitudes].  I try to engage my strengths and the strengths of those around me.  I remember that things I don’t do well, others do nearly flawlessly practically every time, and I’m grateful for that.  I try to act like other people matter.  I notice and try to create High Quality Connections in casual encounters as well as at work and home.  When I think about writing a sarcastic, negative, and hyper-critical post or email, I stop and ask what I expect to accomplish, and I virtually always either don’t write it, or delete it.  Oh, I can still on occasion point out what I see to be a weakness or failure.  But I’m far more careful about when and how I do it, and I often decide to forego sharing such observations entirely.

Are there other strategies? For sure! Mindfulness/Acceptance approaches being some of the most powerful.

But I’ll leave that for another post….