I have, and if you are one of those rare cases that doesn’t know what I’m talking about, let me be the fist to tell you that feeling like that sucks.
Big time.
On my “apathy” days I don’t feel like doing anything.
I don’t feel like going to work, but I don’t feel like staying in bed either.
I don’t feel like going anywhere, but I don’t want to stay at home.
And I certainly don’t feel like talking to anyone or having anything remotely close to any kind of exchange with another human being.
And after ignoring my phone and holing myself up in my room for a few hours, I start to feel incredibly lonely.
But the intense loneliness isn’t enough to make me want people around me. On days like these I feel as if everyone can go take a long walk off of a short pier.
On days like these I could drive past the cutest, hungriest and saddest looking puppy in the world and I wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.
After I’ve felt as little as possible for as long as possible I start to get annoyed with myself for being such an apathetic, non-caring person.
This anger that I direct at myself then turns into an anger that I direct at every living person on the face of the earth.
I turn off the radio because I hate every song that plays even if I loved it the day before.
I don’t talk to anyone because anything anybody says would irritate me.
And I certainly do not accomplish as much as I should on a personal level.
Which makes me even more angry with myself.
So, as you can probably see, it’s a truly vicious cycle.
It’s not something that happens all that often, I’m certainly not a miserable sod everyday (well, not in public anyway.)
And once I’m over my little mood-swing, then I go about my day normally.
And with the people I have chosen to surround myself with, it doesn’t take very long for one of them to point out how much of an idiot I’m being.
It also doesn’t take long for something or somebody to come along and make me laugh hysterically.
In either one of the above cases, I snap out of it immediately and try and make the rest of the day as great as I possibly can.
Yes, even if I have to fake it in order to make it for a little while.
I think the best thing for anyone to do in similar situations to those I have mentioned above, would be to remove yourself for a little while.
If you are a smoker, go out for a quick cigarette and get your head clear, I find this helps me.
If you are a non-smoker then just go out for a breath of fresh air.
The sooner you remove yourself from everything around you, the better your day will get.
If you are finding it difficult to get out for a quick cigarette or breath of fresh air, just close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing.
And, finally – and this one is a bit of a cliché – just focus on what you are grateful for.
I do this often and I find that it works faster and healthier than a cigarette and it’s something you can do in the comfort of your own home or office.
I try and keep the things I am most grateful for at the forefront of my mind throughout the course of the day.
And I do have a lot to be grateful for, I won’t make you a list, because I fear that you are already bored to tears by this little column of mine.
I also find that making someone else smile is a good way to get rid of a case of the blues.
Whether you smile at a stranger and they return your smile, or make a colleague at work laugh, they both have the same effect.
In all honesty, some days it is difficult to be grateful and try and make someone smile when you don’t feel like smiling at all.
On these days I find it best to wake up in the morning and just see the day through to its end while trying to be as productive as possible.
Yes, it is difficult to deal with having a bad day and trying to get through a tonne of work at the office at the same time, but you are not the first, nor are you the last person who will have to do this.
And it’s also not the last time that you are going to be dealing with these kind of issues.
Sometimes it’s just best to put your big boy (or girl) pants on, force your feet into your combat boots, and prepare for battle.
It’s better than rolling over and letting your foul mood get the better of you.
There are a lot of things that can happen in a day that will sour your mood, best to just forget them as soon as they’ve happened and move on with your day.
Yes, that taxi cut you off on the highway, or that guy didn’t pull off fast enough for your liking at a green traffic light.
So what? Get over it.
Truth be told, you are probably more bothered by it than they are.
Nothing is going to stop these things from happening, but you can change the way you react to these situations, and ultimately alter the course of your day.
The choice is yours.
