Kill The Mood

 

There is one quality that I hate about us. When I say us, I mean we, collectively as all human beings. And that quality is that we’re a prisoner of our moods. If you’re in a good mood, all the small inconveniences feel insignificant and you’re all sunshine and rainbows. But if something bad happened and your mood is ruined, even the smallest of inconveniences feel like your life sucks.

Stop doing that. Control it. I’m not asking you to be in a good mood 24/7. That is humanly not possible. Instead, have control over your reactions and emotions. Like right now, I feel good because I am imagining myself in a mall in NYC with my friends, listening to pop music, not a single worry on my face. But soon enough, I might be distressed and then everything would seem dull.  

That is what we need to solve. Be honest to yourself and answer this question: Imagine you’ve come to the cinema to watch a really good movie. But before entering the theatre you just received news that your superiors have called you on Monday for an appraisal. You’re 100% aware that your performance has not been great lately, and as a result you mentally know that you’re going to be grilled on Monday. But, you’re out with your family to have a good time. Would you still let this thought affect you?

Me, I’d be devastated. The whole time I would be thinking ‘what will happen on Monday?’ And this is the exact problem that we as a species need to have control over. Even if something bad has happened, don’t let that affect your ability to enjoy a good time. Don’t let your thoughts wander into the place you’ve been avoiding. Keep it on the backseat for a while.

Easier said than done right? I confess, that even I lack this particular ability. But in recent months I have tried to train my mind to not be affected by the silliest stuff. I always ask myself 2 questions:

1 1) Is it life-threatening?

2 2) Do I need to act immediately?

Question 1 automatically answers question 2 most of the times. Whatever it is that is trying to kill your mood, is it so serious that a life or death situation has been created? And unsurprisingly most of the times the answer to that is, “No”. It is always something meagre like an unscheduled extra lecture, getting less than expected marks on the exam, getting your future plans cancelled by a friend, etc. And none of that should be so serious as to ruin my mood. I try to stay calm.

There’s a movie that was released in the year 1983 called as ‘The Outsiders’. For those of you who have heard about the film, ‘The Godfather’, this movie was made by the same director. And I really loved this one dialogue said by one of the characters in the movie. The scene is such that two friends are hiding in an abandoned church. They’ve accidentally committed a crime and are running away from the world. They’re broken, they don’t know what to do, all seems lost. Yet, one evening, they go out to climb a hill to watch the sunset. Then, one of the characters named as Johnny turns to his friend Ponyboy and says something that will stick with me forever. He says to his friend, “You know I never noticed colours and clouds and stuff till you kept reminding me about them. It’s kinda like they were never there before.”

I know it’s hard. When you’re going through your toughest time in life and some knucklehead on Blogger is asking you to be in a good mood. But that’s what it is. Don’t let yourself get drowned in worries. Take a break, talk to people, go out, have fun, enjoy. Forget about your problems for a minute and think about no one but yourself.

I hope this helped. Thank you for reading.