24 Things You Can Do Right Now Instead Of Flipping Out About Your Life

Instead of freaking out about everything that needs to get done this week, you can:

1. Take a short walk to organize your thoughts before you get started.
2. Clean your room–a better space will create instant zen.
3. Make a schedule prioritizing when you will accomplish what activity.

Instead of complaining about how much better your friend’s lives and jobs are, you can:

1. Stretch your hamstrings–it’s good for your mind and body, I swear.
2. Brush up your resume.
3. Write a list of five things you are grateful for completing in your life up until this point.

Instead of anxiously fretting about the negative conversations you’ve had this week and stressing about all the stupid things you’ve done recently, you can:

1. Write up a list of ten traits about yourself you are absolutely in love with.
2. Name the five people in your life with whom you are closest with and think about one thig you absolutely love about them.
3. Mold something with silly putty (you’d be amazed at how therapeutic this bizarre substance can be).

Instead of focusing on how far you still need to go to achieve absolutely anything in life, you can:

1. Make a to-do list of all the steps you’ve already accomplished, just so you get the satisfaction of crossing those items off.
2. Listen to a podcast from This American Life–it has bizarrely inspirational stories about ordinary people.
3. Belt out Taylor Swift at the top of your lungs while you dance in your underwear (you’ll be surprised by how good this can feel).

Instead of pacing anxiously around your house for whatever reason happens to be consuming your thoughts, you can:

1. Make pizza from scratch–yes, it’s really easy and doesn’t take very long to do.
2. Stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself all your problems. Yes, you will look like a crazy person, but who will listen to your problems better than you.
3. Color in an adult coloring book. (And in case your wondering, an adult coloring book is simply a more complicated coloring book geared towards adults rather than kids, not a coloring book with adult content.)

Instead of compulsively checking Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to see what the people around you are doing with their fabulous lives, you can:

1. Get in the car and just drive. You never know where the destination will lead and what you can learn about yourself by just taking a short solitary road trip.
2. Look at photos of yourself with old friends. Bonus if you print them out and hang the photographs on your wall.
3. Buy strawberries, heavy cream, and sugar. You can make homemade strawberries and cream in less than 10 minutes and it’s a delicious and easy DIY pick-me-up.

Instead of thinking about all the stupid things you’ve ever said or done that you’ve felt embarrassed about, you can:

1. Tell yourself a story about that stupid thing you said or did that you felt embarrassed about. Saying it aloud will let yourself know that you are embarrassed for no reason and whatever happened wasn’t that big of a deal.
2. Look up stories online about all the stupid and ridiculous things other people have been embarrassed about.
3. Pet a puppy…if you can find a puppy.

Instead of worrying about making all the people in your life happy, you can:

1. RSVP “no” to a pending social obligation you really don’t want to go to.
2. Pull old clothes out of your closet that you no longer wear and donate them to charity.
3. Watch stand-up comedy. Stand-up comics are notoriously good at at telling stories about all the times they’ve let people down.

[Featured Image Credit: Holly Lay via Flickr]