You never hear anyone use that wonderful old expression any more.  Mother used to say it on occasion.  It just meant she was not in an optimistic mood or was feeling a little bit “blue.”    No biggie.

Another expression she used was “feeling sorry for yourself.”  You just weren’t supposed to do that.

And “Don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder.  Someone is sure to knock it off.”

Nowadays, seems like we are supposed either to be in a positive frame of mind pretty much all the time or take medicine for it or sign up for a series of therapy sessions. Or take more yoga!

I think, sometimes, we’re just going  to be a bit sad for a little while.  Try not to worry about it too much.  You just feel like curling up in a ball under the covers all day.  But you know better than to allow yourself to do that for more than just a few minutes.

You have to get up and get dressed and return your phone calls and schedule your appointments and answer your emails and clean your house.  If you don’t have any emails to answer, write a few.   Call or write someone who is feeling worse than you are today. At the very least, fill the bird feeder.

Don’t get stuck beating yourself up for things you wish you had said differently or not said at all. Shed a few tears. You can’t always straighten everything out.

Pull a few weeds.  Plant a few vegetables.  Take the dog for a walk.  Move on.

Here’s something that can wipe the smile off my face these days:

In a former life, there were some people who needed me to do so many things for them all the time.   They seemed to think I could do anything, answer any question, solve any problem, soothe any wound. It’s quite an adjustment to find oneself where those same people seem to think you don’t have a lick of sense these days.  Go for a walk.  Move on.  And talk to different people 🙂

New expressions have replaced the old-fashioned ones.   “I’m down in the dumps today” has been replaced by “temporarily suffering from depression.”   But some of the newer ones do work.

Let it go.  Get over yourself. It’s not about you.

And I didn’t just make this stuff up.