State of Don’t Mind Me.


Bad moods happen. Sometimes, they just spring out of nowhere. The sun comes up, and we roll out of bed. By the time we put our feet on the floor we are well aware of its presence. That unpleasant mood is tapping us on the shoulder saying, “Hey look at ME. You can run but you can’t hide.”

The obnoxious, yet unexplained — and oppressive — bad mood.

But the whole nasty mood thing is a complex creature.

There are the variety which are caused by something, or worse yet, someone. Those are the kind that really get under our skin. Someone had fouled us when we dribbling the ball up the court. We weren’t even shooting the ball, and there it was — FOUL.

And yes. We noticed. WE certainly didn’t ask for it. Yet. That bad mood is in our face, and certainly lurking around every corner. It multiplies. For example, there we are, stewing in our irritability, and we reach in the fridge for the leftover Potato Soup. The entire container slips out of our hands, hits the floor at high impact, and splashes over the entire kitchen, and us. There is even some on the ceiling. That is how the bad mood works. It expands and manifests in all sorts of other places.

As far as I can determine, there are three categories of bad moodiness beyond this.

Bad moods caused by anger.
Bad moods caused by sadness.
Bad moods caused by fear.

The anger kind is easy to spot. We do things that we normally wouldn’t do. Again, let’s go back to the kitchen. We’ve decided that some Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies might make us feel better. So we take the package, and try to open it. But the plastic has been sealed shut at Fort Knox. We grit our teeth, our elbows jutting outward as we try to pull apart the plastic. We begin bobbing our heads back and forth. Suddenly! The plastic gives way and the entire package of cookies scatters across the counter. Then we see it. The butter knife. We pick it up and begin jabbing one of the cookies with butt-end of the knife. Again and again, until finally we stop. And there before us is a pile of Nutter Butter Cookie Crumbles. The Angry Bad Mood.

The other two are harder to identify by physical signs — the “sadness” bad mood and the “fear” bad mood. Both usually involve weepy and occasional crying, with little or no outbursts of irascible actions.

And the worst part is, there seems to be no apparent cure for the bad mood. There is not any one method that will alleviate any bad mood across the board. We can’t just take a teaspoon of honey mixed with a pinch of cayenne pepper, for instance. No. Each mood is unique. The “fix” is singular and exceptional. Most of the times, we are unaware that it occurs. The bad mood just seems to have disappeared. Like Houdini. Or the last piece of cake.

My best advice? Right now?

If you see me out today, it may be best to turn around and walk in the other direction.

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If someone is in a bad mood, tickling only makes it worse. — Amy Krouse Rosenthal

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Sometimes you can’t tell if you’re just in a bad mood or everyone around you is being annoying. — Hussein Nishah

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Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around. — Bill Watterson

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