five ridiculous ways I get through bad days

I often find myself in a bit of a funk. I wake up feeling anxious or low, usually underslept, and find it very hard to get going. Staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything I’ve ever done wrong in my life suddenly seems like a great way to spend my morning.

I recently saw a series of TikToks offering ‘niche and extremely unique’ ways to get out of a funk. The suggestions included taking a shower, watching a comfort TV show, and writing a list of things you’re looking forward to. All perfectly sensible ideas; useful ones that we all sometimes need. But I wouldn’t exactly describe them as ‘niche’, ‘unique’, or ‘insane’.

And sometimes, I really do need something a bit weird to get out of a funk. Sometimes I need a bit of an antidote to the endless stream of ‘clean girl’ morning routines and productivity hacks populating my feed. Something that shifts the day into a game, a story, an experiment, rather than just another low day to get through, trapped in my own head.

The suggestions below are some strange strategies for making that mental shift. They’re not intended as medical advice, and I don’t mean to trivialise how serious mental ill-health can be. Instead, they offer a few ways to reframe your day, and hopefully find some moments of lightness along the way.