I Was Cranky Today

Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
​
Or something... I'm not exactly sure why I woke up cranky today, but I did.

And as my morning went on, I started to ask myself what was making me cranky. ​This is what I came up with:

• I was irritated that my partner's computer was still plugged in after it was fully charged.
• I didn't feel like walking twenty steps in the cold to get the newspaper.
• My foot hurt.

All of those things were true for me - but were those the reasons I was cranky? Would those rather miniscule things (in the big picture) change my mood and set the tone for my day? Would I let them??

I told my partner that I was feeling cranky. I did NOT tell him that his still-plugged-in computer was part of the reason.. at least not right away. First we talked about the general crankiness I was feeling. 

We talked about the fact that I had slept well, and slept enough, but was feeling a little 'off.' I said I was trying to snap myself out of feeling that way, to no avail.

He asked me to name the things that were contributing to this feeling. 
So I told him about the computer. AND his coffeemaker that remained all lit up in the on position for hours. AND other kind of insignificant things that, to me, were really significant right now.

I took the feeling of being cranky outside of my body, looked at it, and turned it over and around.

Interestingly, once I started to look at the feeling of feeling cranky, it started to loosen its grip on me. Since the feeling came from inside of me, I could take it outside of me, too.

Then he asked me to yell at him about the computer and the coffeemaker. So I did. (How often does someone ask you to yell at them?) It was truly helpful in that moment - it helped get the feeling out instead of festering to the point of being a major issue.

By talking about it, and even yelling, it suddenly was no longer a big hairy deal. I started to relax more and felt less cranky.

My day continued. As time ticked away, the feeling of being cranky became just a memory of a way I had felt earlier today. Now I was even laughing about it.

It made a huge difference to talk about feeling cranky instead of letting it take over my day.

By taking the feeling out and looking at it, I realized it was just a feeling I had. Nothing more. It wasn't permanent.

And life went on.


©Catherine Borowski, 2021
​www.celebratingwealth.com

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