When You’re In a Funk

You know the feeling.  You’re down and you don’t want to feel better.  You’re not interested in doing anything, especially anything fun or positive.  You have no interest in listening to an upbeat song much less watching a funny video.  Maybe something triggered it.  Maybe a few things happened that were disappointing, frustrating, or sad that culminated into your overall sense of melancholy.  Or maybe nothing happened.  This feeling just crept over you and now you can’t shake it.

I’m not talking about depression – a serious down feeling that hangs on for many days or longer.  This funk is unusual or at least doesn’t happen very often.  It saps your enjoyment of life and nothing seems worthwhile so why bother.  Maybe you even feel like a failure or a fraud.

Here are some ideas of what to do.

• Call an understanding friend that you can share your feelings with.
• Think of something nice you can do for someone else.  It may just be emailing them a note.  It helps to get the focus off our own life.
• Distract yourself with a movie or book.
• If you can muster the motivation, go for a walk or exercise.
• Just wait for it to pass.  Realize it won’t last and more than likely you will feel better in the morning.

It can be very helpful to share how you are feeling with those around you.  Just saying “I’m having a down day,” or “I’m sorry if I’m acting strange, but I’m just in a funk today,”  is very helpful.  Then they’re not wondering what they did wrong to make you mad or telling themselves stories to try to explain your behavior.  (It won’t be pretty!)

What do you do when you’re in a funk?  Thanks for sharing below!

Tina Hallis, Ph.D. is a professional speaker and consultant for The Positive Edge.  She uses science to help people shift the way they think so they can achieve more success in their work and in their lives.