Work is hard. Sometimes life just doesn’t go as well as we wish it would. Here’s the things we do to calm ourselves down and get some perspective. Or at least some comfort.
Look at savings. This reminds me that in the worst case scenario we won’t starve, not for a while at least.
Eat chocolate ice cream, preferably male*
Make chocolate chip cookies, also preferably male
Read something engrossing. I read somewhere that this does good things to the brain in times of stress and is better than some other ways to relax. So it must be true.
Watch something brainless and funny. Ah, Big Bang Theory, how I love you.
Snuggle. Wasn’t there just an article making the rounds about the power of touch? So yeah.
Look up alternate careers. Because we are never trapped.
Eat pasta. (This doesn’t work as well for #1 because it is often followed by a carb crash. But there’s something very homey about spaghetti with meat sauce. The ultimate comfort food.)
Re-read silly novels. They can’t surprise you with sudden depressingness.
Listen to MC Frontalot.
Call partner on phone
Look at lolcats… or kitenwars… or dailysquee… Cute aminals. Nuff sed.
Cuddle a kitteh
Whiiiiiiiiiine
IM #1 (see above whine)
Go to bed and sleep it off. Tomorrow is often better, assuming you don’t have crippling nightmares that keep you from sleeping.
Distract self with internet (LibraryThing)… or blog about it. (See whine.)
What do you do when you need a little TLC? (The care, not the crackers.)
*male ice cream includes NY Super Fudge Chunk, rocky road, everything but the, turtle soup etc… male cookies include generally walnuts or pecans.
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
October 22, 2010 at 4:14 am
I know it sounds kind of corny, but when I’m having a bad day, I try to do something that would make someone else’s day a little happier. It usually helps me be happy to and I figure the karma will eventually make it’s way back to me and someone will cheer me up.
I also have a couple of girlfriends who I can go to to talk me off the cliff.
What about that 4 letter swear word that men would do all the time, 24/7 to cheer themselves up. I think it works on women too.
October 22, 2010 at 6:49 am
That 4 letter word doesn’t work for either of us as a cheering up mechanism, but for different reasons. (It is hard to do when one’s mate is in another state.) :(
Helping others is definitely a good way to cheer up oneself.
October 22, 2010 at 6:31 am
Oh sleep is a great one for me. A nap can give a whole new perspective.
I also love to go to Panera, get a sandwich, soup and Chocolate Duet cookie and enjoy a book. That sounds so good right now, and my day is going just fine!
October 22, 2010 at 6:50 am
Sleep is AWESOME.
I wish our town had a Panera!
October 22, 2010 at 6:44 am
I say do them all!
Have a great weekend!
October 22, 2010 at 6:50 am
You too! TGIF everyone!
October 22, 2010 at 10:38 am
Please explain further about male and female chocolate. Is this what people of these persuasions tend to prefer, is it something to do with lumpiness/hardness vs softness, or what? When did you come up with this distinction? Should unhappy women eat male chocolate and unhappy men go for female chocolate? What about unhappy queer folk? Is there a queer chocolate? (Oh, that’s probably that chocolate-covered bacon or something.) Anyway: how about a whole post on chocolate?
October 22, 2010 at 10:47 am
No, not a gender preference … generally there are lumps but nutella is both male and smooth.
Sometimes #2 makes male cookies with hazelnuts instead of pecans or walnuts… I’m not sure whether Snickers bars are male or not because technically they contain legumes.
So to answer the implied question, it is purely a biological function, not societally driven (except to the extent that we define biological male-ness). They are male because they have male bits that females lack.
The distinction was made by very silly teenagers in high school. We’ve kept it because we grew into very silly adults.
And we do have a post on chocolate covered bacon. :) It is delicious.
October 22, 2010 at 11:14 am
Bath with a book
Chamomile tea
Beer
Bad reality TV so I can forget about my own drama
Getting out and being with people, if possible
Listening to Bon Ivar, Sufjan Stevens or Elliot Smith
And, I like my ice cream and cookies to be female.
October 22, 2010 at 11:17 am
You probably like soft center chocolates too! The horror! (Well, technically female chocolate is better than no chocolate…)
October 22, 2010 at 12:09 pm
My secret is I go to a park in my area and listen to the birds from inside a building there where there is a bird watching area. The place has bird feeds and speakers so you can hear the bird chirping. At lunch, mostly nobody’s there so it’s my fortress of solitude. I always feel better listening and watching the birds… :)
October 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm
mmm fortress of solitude
That sounds really nice. My kid has a book called “The Listening Walk” which is kind of like that. Dad and daughter and dog go walking and just listen.
October 24, 2010 at 2:41 pm
When I feel bad and want to feel good, I sing along with songs I like. Dancing along with them helps, too, especially if I am also singing. If I’m at work, I take an internet break instead–it’s less distracting for my co-workers.
When I’m not liking my job, I recalculate how early I can retire, I look up job openings, and I eat. No matter how often I recalculate it, I can’t move up my retirement date, so that doesn’t help. I never find any good jobs by people who would want me, so that doesn’t help directly but it does remind me that my job really isn’t so bad–I’m competent and appreciated and better paid than for the other jobs I could quickly get, so I should be able to deal with the cyclic frustration and boredom for just a few more years and quit my whining. Eating does help, but is very short term and not good for my health. I try to have healthier things at work now like spelt pretzels (they have fiber!) and vegetable juice.
Also, I take a bus to work, and this is the time I get to read. Sometimes getting to read is what gets me up in the morning, and it’s definitely an excellent cool down coming home from work.
When I’m stressed by my relatives, mostly I just run away into the arms of my friends, and I am thankful that I got virtually all of my favorite genes instead of many of the other random mixes I could have ended up with.
I haven’t had to stress about money in a long time. With a stable job, an almost-paid off house, no other debt, some savings, and a low-cost lifestyle, I haven’t had that particular stress in a long time.
October 24, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Music can be a great mood lifter. We at grumpy rumblings have a wide assortment… including plenty o’ showtunes. #1 cannot handle #2’s NIN playing for various reasons which will go unexplained in this family oriented blog.
I like the spelt pretzels!
It is nice not having to stress about money like we did when we were not yet in quite as stable a position. (Not that we could drop everything and still keep not stressing about money, but it isn’t a budget to the penny, feel guilty about every little luxury, kind of thing anymore.)
October 25, 2010 at 6:24 pm
No, I don’t use NIN to make me feel better. I’m pretty sure that would only make it worse for me!
October 26, 2010 at 2:11 am
NIN! Oh the memories. The first time I heard them, I was in at a modern art gallery opening at a dingy warehouse and everyone there was so much cooler than me. Luckily I had enough nerve to ask what was playing.
I forgot that I sing songs too. If I’m really really stressed, it does help to just go hum a song with la la la. Usually a kid song or something very benign.