MORNING BLUES

This one time, Matt felt gravity getting denser. At first, it was just this inescapable pit. But then a tightness crept in, like walls closing in, and a void started emerging, endless and agape. Next thing Matt knew, he was adrift in this dark and heavy space. One by one, he began to come upon insights stemming from his core: that he was unskilled, unwanted, unneeded, unable, unlikable and unfixable. He was adrift for a good five minutes or so in this space when, at last, he woke up. The morning had come, but it was dim. Dim and crushed like his soul. Going back to sleep made it better only a for a moment. Yet, an alarming realization grew. It grew unstoppably until it became whole. Sleep had been defeated and a promise was left in its wake: That Matt was a total and utter failure. A complete piece of shit. 

Anybody who has ever been in Matt’s shoes knows what it’s like to feel morning blues. This can happen due to many reasons ranging from sudden devastation to pervasive sadness to earth-shattering trauma to severe mental illness. The thing is mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness. Simply put, it is the achievement of consistent positivity and productivity. The morning blues are a significant deterrent to this achievement. That is why, in this post, we discuss how to overcome morning blues. In other words, we discuss how to stay mentally well even when you feel like shit in the mornings.

THE MAIN IDEA

Nothing defeats the morning blues like some quick improvement. Basically, the most readily accessible element of the morning blues is  I can’t get anything done. So, the quickest way to realize quick improvement is to start getting things done. Now that the main idea is clear, let’s go into the operational details. 

THE OPERATIONAL DETAILS

Some examples of things that you can start getting done are as follows:

Getting organized to get something done in the next couple of hours

For me, doing this meant the following:

(1) Get out of bed.
(2) Find my laptop.
(3) Get in a closed room and put my laptop there.
(4) Then go around tidying myself and the house until I was ready to get in that room and get to work. 

You can abstract the general algorithm from that as follows:

(1) Get on your feet.
(2) Find the resource you need to get the next bit of work done.
(3) Get it set up just the way you like it to get some momentum going.
(4) Go around handling small tasks until you’re ready to get inside the set up and get to work. 

If you have a loved one around (human or dog), show them some affection

For me, this meant:

(1) Clean up my room so that my beloved sister doesn’t lose her mind coming home to a messy room.
(2) Find some time to empty the dishwasher to help my sister with house chores.
(3) Ask my father whether he wanted to go out to lunch someplace he likes.
(4) Pet my dog until he has run out of licks to slather my face with. 

The general algorithm would be as follows:

(1) Do tasks that would make your loved ones happy or more relaxed
(2) Give them some time out of your day to entertain them in a way they like. 

That’s it. That’s literally it. I hope this helps in overcoming morning blues. As the day goes on, you will reconnect with the big picture, whatever that is in your life. For me, the big picture was to one day be not-addicted enough to enjoy moments without thinking about my addiction. 

As always, we’d love to hear from you in the comments!