Feeling Down? 6 Perks To Just Sulking It Out

1. Fake it ‘til you make it doesn’t work all the time

There’s a time and place for everything. In a perfect world, when you’re feeling strong and capable, convincing yourself to fake it until you make it is a great method of locking down to what you’re trying to accomplish. But that doesn’t always work when you’re feeling down. Faking it until you make it can actually make whatever you’re currently feeling 10x worse, because you’re forced to temporarily bury your feelings and pretend like they don’t exist. Feeling down isn’t something you can bury or brush under a rug. If you’re not careful, that sad feeling you just bury may just burst if you face.

2. Get into the meat of it

Sometimes, I’m feeling down and I have no idea why. I think this partly has to do with the reality that life doesn’t always provide a cookie-cutter picture of right and wrong. Rather, it’s usually an accumulation of bad shit happening all at once. Maybe you and your significant other got into an argument, work is stressing you out, you’re trying to lose the stubborn 5 pounds but nothing is working and you just can’t help eating the free cookies at your workplace. Everything is simply going wrong, and you’ve been mentally convincing yourself that you can hold down the fort for just a few days too long. And now, you fear you’re mired in this sort rut for the foreseeable future. It’s just all too much. Sulking gives you the time and place to really dig deep into what’s really bothering you and finding the right solution to sort everything out.

3. To have a pity is like having a private VIP party

Granted, feeling happy is a great emotion and we should all bask in happiness all day, everyday. But being sad or down can be rather cathartic, if properly managed. There are days where I’ll feel down I’ll just live in it and thrive. Throw yourself a pity party, and don’t invite others — this can actually be quite fun because, you’ll allow yourself to really emphasize with yourself, and give the esteemed pity party honoree the comfort you know you need. So sulk however you need to — go bat shit crazy in your room, listening to whatever music you should never judge yourself for listening to. .

4. Don’t be angry at the world, be angry at yourself

Instead of putting my negativity out into the world, sulking allows me to be in my own place to be angry. Go punch something, or buy a box of (very inexpensive) plates to break. Just know that everyone falls short of their own expectations all the time, and it’s okay to be angry about that. It’s okay to be angry with yourself. It’s how you handle the anger that makes a difference.

5. Find forgiveness

Amidst my sulking-sprees, I learn to forgive myself. When you’re sulking, you come to understand that life is hard, and that everyone’s life is hard. Your own life can be especially hard, given that you’re the one struggling in it. Meaning, it’s okay to cut yourself some slack. That said, be real and give yourself a reality check every so often. Look into the mirror and give yourself a nice, stern talking to — say the meanest things you can say about yourself, if you can handle it.

But once you let out all your steam, make sure to tell yourself that you’re actually not too shabby, and realize that at the end of the day, we’re all our own worst critics. So sulk it out. Own up to your own shit. Take a deep breath. Forgive yourself for whatever got you down in the first place.

6. It makes you want a better tomorrow

Ultimately, after a day of sulking you’ll be exhausted. You’ll be so sick of feeling down because you’ve spent your last 4 hours (or 24 hours) sulking in your room in the dark or on a lonely bench in an abandoned park. At some point, you’ll get sick of yourself. You’ll get sick of wallowing in all the bad things your head is overloaded with. It’s as if you’re a small child who, out of sheer gluttony, had about four too many slices of birthday cake. Would you want cake again? Probably, but not for a while and it’ll make you want to eat something a little healthier. Same with sulking – you’ll be so sick of sulking, that you’ll ideally just want to move on or do something about it. Ultimately, a good sulk will spur you into action, which will ultimately result in prolonged improvement. So sulk your heart out to find your happy place!