For years, people have asked me how I manage to be so awesome. It's all about knowing how to cheer yourself up when someone messes up your day, you do something foolish, you feel let down, or there's just a general feeling of malaise about you. Maybe today is just not your day.
That is unacceptable in grad school. You've got stuff to do. People to meet, networks to build, papers to write, and trees to kill with all that printing. Everyday is your day.
But sometimes, the day needs a little convincing that is in, in fact, YOUR day. After all, you aren't the only grad student, it's got to be YOUR DAY to hundreds of thousands of other people. Here are some tricks to turning your day around:
I find general malaise and misery is cured best by videos. Check out:
Funny things:
Any of the screaming goats videos, such as:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrts7p2FKa4
Whose Line Is It Anyway? scenes from a hat and other compilations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-J1j4lgb0E
Cute things:
The Corgi Flop never fails: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glii-kazad8
Cuteness Overload videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCNdSc8_qF4
Cute Overload website (pictures and videos): www.cuteoverload.com
Inspirational things:
This amazing person: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
Dolphins creating tricks: http://www.castanet.net/news/Offbeat/75547/Dolphins-create-trick
Sometimes, though, one or ten particular things really throw you off, and those can be very distracting.
If someone has wronged you:
If you're in a forgiving mood, remember that everyone is fighting their own battle and you were probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can't know everything about the person and hir circumstances and give zie the benefit of the doubt. At the very least, you can move on from the incident or have a cool head to find a peaceful resolution.
Not in a forgiving mood? It's still probably not a good idea to continue and/or pick a fight because one person did something and you can't control yourself. I find in these situations that I just need time to cool down and then I can go from there. So, I need distractions until I'm not mad anymore. I generally try:
Watching any (good) Abridged Series
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Starting a conversation with a friend from home (or, at the least, someone outside your grad-school circle).
But NOT Facebook or anything that may allow me to ruminate on the conflict or source of sadness/anger.
Just find distractions that won't make you more angry.
But, I once knew a guy who let off steam by imagining how he would commit heinous crimes. So, really, it's up to you.
And then, there's homesickness. How do I deal with homesickness? Well, mostly I curl up on the couch, hug my dog, and wallow in misery for a little while before going back to my life, but I also do things that remind me of home. I talk to old friends, read books/watch movies in the same kind of setting, etc. Often I'll talk to a friend from back in Arizona about how much everything sucks out here in Binghamton. And, even though it doesn't actually suck, it just helps to have a commiserating-buddy.
Stay cheerful,
Jessica
P.S. Yay shameless plugs for lots of different people! And, sorry there were no pictures of Zoe. Here's one to make up for it:
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