Rinse and Repeat

Cranky and don't know why?

Have you ever woken up in such a bad mood and heard someone say “Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, didn’t they?” and then they point at you and laugh at their apparent clever remark like it’s the first time anyone has ever said it. I have and let me tell you hearing that you’re cranky when you are cranky does not help; especially when you have no idea why.

I used to say I am cranky just because and never really examined what could be the cause. I would go about my day content with being cranky and never caring why. I seriously thought maybe people do just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I figured I would go to sleep the following night and hopefully wake up on the right side to start another day, rinse and repeat.  Sometimes that worked fine, other times it didn’t. Over time when I started to be more in tune with why I was feeling what I was feeling, I started to question and reflect. It also helped that I have a husband with a habit of counting to three and unwillingness to just let me be cranky.

Normally the cause is accumulation of problems that I have yet to deal with or an interaction with someone in the close past that still is sitting uneasy. So what do you do? Deal with the issue or let it lye?

I have learnt for me the best thing is to go through what could be bothering, venting normally works. Talk to someone who’s okay with your belligerent ranting and figure out what the cause is. Sometimes identifying the cause and validating why I am cranky is solution enough, sometimes not so much. If just discovering what it is that is causing your morning melt down is not enough you then have to decide how it is to be dealt with and that can be the hard part. It all depends on what the cause is, is it a person, work, family, the options are endless.

What’s important is that you are working through what is causing you grief. The faster we do this the less time we give the cranky bug time to work its way in and cause more damage.

For me this has sometimes led to difficult conversations, a life change or even a realization that whatever was causing me this discomfort was not big enough a problem to let bother me and to just let go. Whatever the situation was, every time I worked through this problem I learnt more about myself and that’s never a bad thing.

So the next time you find yourself on the wrong side of the bed, instead of being ok with being cranky, take some you time or vent to one of your closest friends and discover the root cause. Get close to your feelings, learn what makes you tick. Because yes it is okay to be cranky every once in a while, but wouldn’t it be better to just feel happy?