Everyone has frustriations, peeves, and downers every so oft, all of which make up the emotional state known as "the Blues." Every has a way of dealing with the tough times. (Some more creative than others.)

I like to reflect in a nice hot bath or shower, or watch a good movie to lift my spirits. I have other less traditional methods of giving myself that little lift as well. For instance, when I'm feeling down I like to play dress-up or buy new undergarments. (Not granny panties mind you, but femme little numbers of lace and frill.) In fact, I thought of this post as I was putting away some nice lacy little odds and ends I've just purchased.

Prancing around in make-up, new body stockings and my 6in stilletos...that's what shakes my blues.

How do you shake your blues?

When I feel down i usually like to read or keep my mind busy by cleaning or doing house work. The prancing around thing seems interesting and I may have to give it a try. lol

I like to play GTA Vice City, or any violent video game for that matter. If it's a specific person that's getting me down, I like to imagine it's him that I'm disemboweling with a chainsaw or stabbing to death with a screwdriver.

I try to focus my blues into my music or artwork. I don't like to let emotions go to waste. But if my mood is even to built up for that I just go buy a nice cigar and walk through a park or go to the mountains by myself.

How I beat the blues depends on the time of day (and the weather). Things permitting, I usually go out on my mountain bike, either for long-distance rides (my record is 70-odd miles roundtrip and, man, did my legs hurt) or out to a few spots where I can rock-hop and otherwise abuse my cycle properly. At night or during bad weather I put on the headphones and crank up Marilyn Manson. It's not exactly relaxing, more cathartic. Nine Inch Nails is another favorite. For lingering blues, I'll draw a picture that either expresses what I feel or represents something that would cancel it: personal magic always works best.

my record is 70-odd miles roundtrip and, man, did my legs hurt

Wow. Now that is amazing.

How to shake blues?

Well, spending time with my girlfriend usually lifts my spirits greatly. Anything pleasant to look at will usually make me feel better as well (like a painting, a good movie, a forest, lakeside or a gemstone). Reading good poetry or a good book works pretty good for me as well. Just about any activity I enjoy doing can lift my spirits.

I suppose that as long as you want to feel good, it's hard being depressed.

If I'm suffering from a bit of the blues, I will usually sink myself into a good book or two OR play a bit of Diablo II LoD. A bit of the "hack-n-slash" always raises my spirits.


~DWK~

When I get the blues, I play the blues. Funny how it turned out that way.

Everyone has frustriations, peeves, and downers every so oft, all of which make up the emotional state known as "the Blues." Every has a way of dealing with the tough times. (Some more creative than others.)

I wouldn't say that some are "more creative than others." Rather, I'd say that some are more focused than others.

If I have "the blues", rather than buying something new, going for a jog, or burrying my nose in a book, I try to decipher what exactly it is that's getting me down. Once you figure that out, you can take action to actually solve the problem, rather than ignore it and gloss over it with spurts of minor self gratification.

If I get "the blues" because, for example, I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do in the next few days, I could do a number of things to shake those blues. I could lift weights, paint a picture, get a new tattoo I've been wanting, chum around with some friends, play with my snake, play with my other snake , etc. While any of those options might make me feel better, absolutely none of them are getting me any closer to solving my problem and extracting the source of my anxiety. If instead I had used my time and energy to charge ahead into my work I could actually get something done and come out the other end feeling 100% myself again. Then I can enjoy any of those other activities more fully because my problems won't be lurking in the shadows, waiting for me to get home after my night on the town.

Hail Satan!

If I'm feeling blue, I may cry and really dive into the emotion. In the process, I may play a violent video game, listen to sad or angry music, or rant to a friend or to my parents. I find music and ranting to be especially helpful.

I see the blues as a perception more than emotion. If I feel down, then it's a matter of deciding whether I want to dive right in, feel the emotions in their intensity, and then come out feeling refreshed, or just ignore it. Most call that "bottling up your anger" which produces a bad ending more often than not. I say bottle away, and conserve it for a more constructive use (say a destruction ritual perhaps ), but do not let it get overfilled.

Most times though, when feeling blue, I just look at my life as an observer, realize that the things I have accomplished thus far far outweigh the feeling of depressions and the reasons I came to this point in my day, and I'll just remove the problem.

Here's to feeling better

Oh yeah, physical activity can definitely do the trick. It stimulates adrenaline and endorphines in the body which are good natural chemicals that make you feel good again.

I agree. Ofcourse those activities to cheer you up won't solve your problems. Then again, a drinking cup of coffee won't make that big stack of tax forms dissappear.

Shaking the blues is just a way to put you in a good mood. That out of the way, you can get out of your slump and find the energy to do what you need to do to fix your problem.

I suppose it's a way of re-routing your energy towards something positive in your life. In a way, it's like magic, wouldn't you agree?

I do choose coffee, then again I grew up in Seattle where a large coffee culture grew to fight seasonal affective disorder caused by endless gray skies.

mmmm, coffee.

To me, the blues would represent depression, and not simply feeling sad about something. Depression is characterized by lethargy, sleep problems, eating problems, complete lack of motivation, and so forth, and in many cases is caused by some sort of biochemical imbalance.

So, I treat it as a biochemical/physical thing, and excercise, take B-complex vitimins which aid in production of seratonin, and try to expose myself to wide-spectrum light.
Proper diet is key too.

Sometimes, when those things are not enough, it may be a good idea to go see a doctor about it, as they can perscribe SSRI's or other medications that can help.

Point well taken.

I suppose it's a way of re-routing your energy towards something positive in your life. In a way, it's like magic, wouldn't you agree?

Certainly. I would never call any emotion, even sadness as being negative. No emotion is negative. It's what we do as a result of our emotions that is positive or negative, constructive to ourselves or destructive.

Pistachio nuts. They always help me stave off the blues. I torture the little bleeders by ripping them out of their shells and chomping hard. All washed down with ale, of course. Nut sadism is immensly gratifying.

I find a nice ale and "bustin' a nut" to be quite de-stressing as well. There's nothing like doing something active to fix whataever's getting you down, of course.

Once, years ago, a friend and I decided to make some extra money by taking a second job as line cooks at the new "Fish House" in town. We were seen as the stars of the new team, (because we knew what we were doing), but didn't get much respect or even acknowledgement from the chef. (Probably felt threatened.) That, and the long hours, made us depressed. On opening day the "chef" started yelling at us for not having our stations set up, even though we'd just walked in to find that half of the prep that we'd been assured would be completed was missing. At that point we both knew that our hearts just weren't in this new job. We looked at our gloomy stacks of mise-not-in-place and simultaneously said fuggit. Suddenly, everything was good again! Cheerfully, we handed our aprons to wank-boy, and departed to listen to Manowar and down a dozen ales or so. A grim day was suddenly festive!
It's important to realize that injustices will occur. It is essential to refuse to play a victim role.
Within a year, I was chefing one of the busiest kitchens in the country, my buddy had opened his own photography studio, and the irritating prick was but a pleasant memory.

For spontaneous Blues or generalized negativity I like to take a bath, with Celtic sea salt crystals.

I tend to get creative when I need a lift...whether it be music or painting,ect...I find the outlet very useful..its a way of excorsizing whatever negative may be keeping me down a bit..very great way to escape from reality for a bit: )

Woah, ok...a little technical there! But you're right about depression being controlled chemically. The things that make us happy do so because they stimulate a certain part of the mind. Exercise makes us feel good because it stimulates the production of endorphines, so regular excersize can improve the disposition overall. Hell, why do you think Suzanne Sommers always has that freakish smile on her face?

I usually try not to get burned out in the first place.

Let's see... there is always the Wedgemaster.

Or I could just spank my monkey.

Paddling the ass of some willing masochist seems to have cathartic properties as well.

I listen to extremely hard grinding metal (or sometimes slow depressing music of any form), take several nyquill and sleep it off.

I like to go visit an old burial ground nearby and talk with the "dead" and compare notes on who is more blue . Very uplifting.

Quote:

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Paddling the ass of some willing masochist seems to have cathartic properties as well.

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Which reminds me...

A solid hour on a punching bag, then a nice hot shower.

Peronally, nothing works better for me.

There are three things of which consistently work for me to elevate my mood or to calm my anxiety. Oddly enough they contain some type of aggression and I am a non violent person unless provoked as many. My primary is what I call “Animal Sex”, wild, angry and quick also including things such as biting and well…….My second outlet, video games such as Max Payne, Diablo etc…My third pertains to sports with my favorite being volleyball ( a good spike always works). In any and every case these have always solved my emotional dilemmas.

I play video games where I get to murder people.

Hail Satan!

Retail therapy, or rather browsing and purchasing a load of cd's and books on Ebay to plug the gaps in my collections always cheers me up no end. I'm like an excited kid waiting for the delivery man. And because everything is so cheap, the bills don't usually give me the blues either! Of course when my stuff arrives I get the biggest enjoyment out of using it!

I play my guitar or have sex with my wife.

If I am still feeling blue after trying that, I go to the store in town, stare at the fat redneck lady who has thirty kids and herpes on her lips and I say to myself "ah, yeah, I'm not so bad off....poor kids".

Ways I cheer up:

Dress up in my best suit and go for a quiet walk at night.

Cuddle with my kitties.

Saw away ferociously on the violin with some hard and mean fiddle tunes.

Watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles .

Blast Mozart's Requiem or Beethoven's 9th Symphony over the stereo and get jiggy.

Treat my kid brother to a movie and goodies.

I seriosuly think the best thing one can do (this works for me at least) is to spend time with good (true) friends. LaVey said that the best protection against curses from others was to surround yourself with friends and lovers, and this is certainly very true! Sometimes when I'm "down" I want to be alone, but it's always a good thing when friends drag you out for a good time!

Mm, seems we deal with ‘blues’ in the same fashion my dear.
I’m big on a round of retail therapy when I’m feeling down, and I venture out and buy myself extremely girly items to cheer myself up.
Make-up, jewelry, perfume, body lotion, etc.
A good book always cheers me too… a crime fiction novel, or an autobiography of someone I admire.
Music soothes me also… classical is great - Bach in particular… or Chopin’s Romantic works.

My kitty cats NEVER fail to raise my spirits either.
Cats are marvelous creatures … bless their velvet paws.
They never judge you, and mine seem to always know when I’m sad – and instantly start to distract me by getting me to play with them.
It's lovely.

Whenever I get down or feeling blue, I go for a run or hit the gym. Especially if I am angry about something - working out until my muscles scream clears my head and refreshes my whole attitude.

Or, I go out shopping and buy some gorgeous and over-priced shoes and lingerie. Very feminine things to lift my spirits (even if I am the only one around to enjoy them, they are, for me, after all)

I get in my car, drive to BFE (County Road 13).
Blast some noise or grindcore in my car and scream along nonsense with it.

Exercise also helps but it scares my roommates in an "American Psycho" kind of way.

Often after both of these methods I end up laughing to the point that it hurts at my own silly behavior and inner ranting.

When I am feeling down, there are a few things I can do for myself to lift the spirits.Play with my insane puppies, you know, unconditional fuzzy love. reading, music, draawing, designing clothes....dressing up in girly clothes and having fun with make up always helps too.

I conjure, then create. I tend to keep my plate rather full, so that I always have something to work on. This offers me a way to channel my intense emotions toward something productive and tangible (and hopefully profitable). The way I see it, "negative" emotions are only negative if you allow them to be an obstacle.

Hail Satan!
L_9