Today at work I was in a pretty good mood. I felt happy. I felt productive. Then LoLo called and he was in a horrible mood. He needed to know what we were doing this weekend so that he could schedule an appointment Saturday morning. The problem was that I knew we had somewhere to be but I didn't know what time.
Apparently I am not only LoLo's wife but I'm also his calendar. And if I don't immediately give him an answer to his questions about his schedule, he turns into a monster. Ok so he wasn't a monster but he was just pretty dismissive after I didn't give him the answers he wanted. I got over it and chalked it up to his job and the long day he had. I enjoyed the rest of my day at work.
Later, he got home and was still in his bad mood even after I gave him the information he needed. He huffed around, barely talked, and gave short answers to every question I asked.
And then I caught it. The bad mood bug. It hit me quickly and furiously and there was no immediate cure.
I talked to my mom and found myself getting short with her. I tried reading blogs and it helped for a little until LoLo gave me the last short answer I could take.
I went upstairs to the bedroom and shut myself in with only my iPad to try to cure me. My phone rang and it was my sister but I knew I had the bug so I ignored it. I finished a great book I had been reading. My sister called again and I picked up but I warned her, "I'm feeling really cranky right now so I don't really want to talk." She told me to "call back when you're done being cranky."
My family is used to my crankiness. They know that my mood changes at the drop of a hat. And I'm pretty lucky they put up with it. I catch the bad mood bug from people around me all the time.
Over the years I've tried to work on it. The fact that I was able to even warn my sister was a step in the right direction. Normally I would have tried to pretend things were ok and then just blown up.
But I think the most important thing is that I need to surround myself with people who don't carry the bad mood bug inside of them. I can't be exposed to it. And when I am exposed to it, I need to remind myself that just like my sister said, I can be done being cranky. I can get rid of it.
I've got to go now, I need to call my sister back.
3 comments:
When I have the bug I simply don't want to talk to ANYONE! I guess that's my way of trying not to make others grumpy. A good amount of alone time is my cure for it.
Ahh! I totally get this post. I definitely have entire days of crankiness. Especially when my husband is in my space all day! Or I'm really hot. Or really stressed. *sigh. Those are the days I give up and go to the pool & just read a book by myself.
I understand catching the bug from someone else. I've worked really hard over the years to be a generally happy person. People comment on it a lot because I think I infect people with the smile bug sometimes, but it definitely doesn't come EASY to just be in a good mood. And when I'm in a bad mood, I know I need to be by myself, breathe, listen to some country music, and most effective I've found is going for a hike or to yoga. I can be a completely new woman after a good workout!!
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