It’s one of those days … Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep. Your relationships are off kilter. Everything is hitting you wrong. You are slightly defensive, mean-spirited, or just plain evil. In fact, everything, it seems, is a buzz kill, zapping joy at every turn. And the annoyances keep coming. Today the list of incessant, bothersome buzz kills seems longer than usual and there is seemingly nothing you can do to stop the negative energy.
Now, I’m no psychologist but I’ve learned a few ChickSmart rules. First things first. Don’t try to stop the buzz-kill feeling in an instant, because it only gets worse if you force it. Instead, analyze the buzz kill and ride the negative energy wave. Label it a “buzz kill moment” and remember, you aren’t the only one having crap annoy you. Misery really does love company at a moment like this.
Next, ever made a list of your A-#1, absolute, top-of-the-line buzz kills that creep into your world on a pseudo-regular basis? If you don’t have a handy dandy list yet, now is the time to make one. You know what I’m talking about — a list of those things — or people — that/who no matter what, bring you smack out of a good day and drop you right into a crap mood? Maybe it’s the weather. Hormones. Germs. Repeat telemarketers. Noise. Relationship drama. Coworker shenanigans.
What are YOUR buzz kills? Come on…you know the repeat offenders. Jokingly, I say, “escape and eliminate.” But that’s not always possible in the real world. When you can’t run away and eliminate buzz kills from your life, it’s time to take the head-on hit.
Now that you’ve put a label on your buzz kills, ENCAPSULATE them. Stick them in a little (or big) box and, when they creep into your world, acknowledge the box, find some slight humor in it and assign an action step as to how you will deal with the buzz kill. “Here comes numero uno buzz kill,” you might say to yourself to prepare for enduring a direct hit of Annoyance. By recognizing that these negative feelings are coming your way — or have arrived in full force — you can, at a minimum, understand why you feel the way you do, mentally preparing in hopes that the wave will dissipate in the near future. And oftentimes, we can see buzz kills coming at us from a mile away, which aids brain prep time to think through action steps, or better yet, head them off.
So in a buzz kill moment, call a spade a spade, and have a crappy mood for a while. And remember, you can usually kill a buzz kill in three simple steps:
- Know your buzz kill list and encapsulate it. Escape and eliminate if at all possible.
- Acknowledge a buzz kill moment and ride the (hopefully short-term) wave, rather than lose the whole day to the negative energy.
- Find one small sign that will bring the buzz kill wave to shore and assist you in jumping off of it…a song from the 80s, a child laughing, a funny picture, an optimistic friend, a bug that hits your windshield. YOU figure that one out at the moment.
This might not make your day perfect, but you aren’t alone and now you have your buzz kills’ number.
So ride the wave and have yourself a buzz-kill-free day.
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