How to boost your mood on rainy days
It’s no secret that rainy days can make us feel low so I have put together 3 easy tips that can help boost your mood on rainy days. The secret to finding ways to enjoy being at home on a rainy day is by first accepting that it is going to rain. Considering it rains 133 days a year on average in Britain, we should probably be a little more used to it by now.
Rainy days can really upset the flow of our days/weeks. If we’ve been enjoying lots of sunshine, that one rainy day can truly dampen (pardon the pun) our mood. Do you remember wet play time in school? Re-creating a suite of indoor activities to help boost your mood will be very beneficial. Knowing that you have a toolkit of tricks to get your serotonin levels rising takes the anxiety out of discovering an unwelcome rainy day.
Boost your mood with Mindfulness
Accepting rainy days
Accepting that rainy days will occur is an important first step to help you boost your mood. In Mindfulness, recognising the moment helps you to manage your feelings towards it better.
For instance, you wake up one morning after a bout of sunny days to discover that it is raining. This may disrupt your plans for the day and you are upset by it. It may affect the outfit you were planning, the activity you were going to do and so on. First recognise that it is raining and that we need rain for the flowers, the trees and the food we eat to grow. Then, “allow it to be as it is.” You can’t stop the rain so you need to allow it to be. You are then able to re-plan your day according to the weather in a way that will help you to boost your mood rather than spoil your plans.
There is literally a Mindfulness acronym called R.A.I.N which you can learn more about here to help you practise Mindfulness in general or literally towards rainy days.
3 easy tips to help boost your mood
These are tips that I use in my coaching practice to help clients manage anxiety that occurs from being let down by the weather. All are easy to do and highly recommended for boosting your mood – whether it’s raining or not.
- Dance like nobody’s watching
- Get a few good friends together and laugh
- Treat yourself to a Spa day
1. Dance like nobody’s watching
I play Beyonce’s Single Ladies at my Wellness Retreats as a form of meditation. Everyone knows it, it’s easy to dance to and nearly every time, clients will impersonate the hand move. It encourages lots of laughter, being silly and just plain simple fun. The more silly you feel, the more it will boost your mood. Put on some cheesy music whilst cooking, especially music that evokes happy memories like pretending to be Madonna or Michael Jackson in your youth, try to vogue or do the moonwalk. Perhaps it’s being ‘in da club’ that inspires you so get that RnB and Garage playlist on. As silly as this sounds (and I’m not offended if you’re laughing at me,) I promise you, after playing a few ‘good tunes’ you’ll be totally in the zone.
2. Get a few good friends together and laugh
This probably sounds like a typical evening for you but you need to define who a few good friends are. Let’s say 3 of your easiest, lightest easy-going friends. The friends that will laugh at you and with you. Having a laugh with friends will get those hormones racing and you’ll all feel great for it. Funny card games are the easiest and can elicit a whole lot of fun on a rainy day. The list of possibilities is endless, just click this link and you’ll be well on your way.
3. Treat yourself to a Spa day
The important word here is “treat.” When we think of something as a treat or reward Neurons in the different regions of the brain comprising the reward system communicate using dopamine. When dopamine is released in large amounts, it creates feelings of pleasure and reward, which motivates you to repeat a specific behaviour. So buy those luxury products, use that special face mask, line the bath with candles and put on that spa music. Take it further by making your favourite restaurant meal. By taking your time to put the ingredients together, you indulge in enjoying time and crafting the dishes. Because this is all for you, the pleasure transmitters in your brain will boost your mood.
I’m Puja McClymont. I specialise in coaching senior leaders who make an impact to help them expand the possibilities of their potential, creating further growth and meaningful impact.
Through my distinctive approach which combines ancient wisdom with modern psychology, clients enable every facet of their lives to thrive, creating extraordinary outcomes.
