Things you do to cheer yourself up

[Klinsy]

So, lately, I been noticing a lot of SSMB members feel down, so I made this topic for SSMB to find ways to cheer themselves up.

Simply put, what do you do when you feel down? Maybe your way of cheering yourself up can cheer up another.

This topic is meant to help people, so I ask for no joke answers.

Let me start, music as a whole helps perk me up, but one song in specific fire up my spirit:
 

The lyrics encourage you do your best and when I remember the context it was in, with the Autobots saving the day, I always smile.

It helps this song is everywhere when someone wants a 80's reference, so I get to hear it a lot and it's always in a good context(Besides Boogie Nights)

So, what cheers you up?

[Failinhearts]

Listening to music, playing games, or hanging out with my friends on this very site. I had a lot of great times streaming with you guys, and I look forward to more.

[Tori Himemiya]

Believe it or not, card games. Big shocker I know.

I dunno why but playing with cards makes me calm. I usually play Yugioh and Vanguard but I don't care which game I'm playing as long as I'm having fun. Like one time I was nervous at a baby shower and wasn't feeling well but the moment I pulled out my cards and practically played solitaire I felt better. That's kind of the reason why I spend so much money into cardboard, because I enjoy playing it and making new friends. I think this makes me Aichi Sendou at this point.

Other things is of course music, especially my favorites or songs that have been stuck in my brain for a while. I do watch or at least listen to Game Grumps whenever I'm down because they usually cheer me up. There's always the good old video games, I usually play games with a good sense of humor to them. And I guess there's the arts too but I'm in the middle of an art rut right now but its a worth mention.

And yes I do love hanging out with my friends, whether its in real life or at streams, I'm always happy to hang out and share my things with people.

[caseykz]

Believe or not, religion can help, you can just attribute things to karma or your gods testing you or whatever. 

[Speederino]

This isn't so much a way to make myself cheery, but when I'm stressed or feeling down I find writing my thoughts down like a journal entry is a huge relief. The end result CAN result in cheeriness, but it's not a promise.

[Haalyle]

Listening to video game music or playing Sonic '06.

[Stardust]

Mostly what everyone said plus reading and writing. Though because of real life hitting me hard, I've had very little time to do those lately. Stress and writing don't get along well, I'm afraid. 

[Sonictrainer]

Sometimes I go for a walk. Sometimes they're short distance walks and I circle around close to home or sometimes I go further and make a stop at Barnes N Noble and read for 2-3 hours. Sometimes I also get ice cream.

[Your Vest Friend]

Eh, I don't so much do stuff to cheer me up as do stuff to pass the time until I'm in a better mood. That's why sleep is one of the top counters. 

[Red]

I fursuit. Putting my costume on just makes everything disappear for me. Negative thoughts, depression, etc. I just have so much fun that I forget any of that stuff exists.
 

[Dizcrybe]

I take a nap. It kinda helps, if briefly.

[Yoko/葉子]

I look at cute things, such as Care Bears, Hina-Ichigo from Rozen Maiden and Lime from Saber Marionette to keep me from going into Hulk mode.

It should not be hard to understand how things like this or prevent me from getting to this extreme:

[CottonCandy]

A nice cup of coffee on a quiet morning is always nice. Sweets and great food also lighten up my day. The best of all is when I have no art blocks and I'm able to create nice artwork. 

[Hyp3hat]

Playing guitar, or recording something. It's good to lose yourself in a creative act when yr feeling down.

Another one is cooking - I love cooking something relatively simple, but is super hearty like a chili or a ragu. Or I recently learned to start making my own pizzas, which is super fun. Or curries. Or jambalayas! Cookings amazing, now I'm hungry. I'm going to try making a steak & kidney pie some point next week, which is going to be messy and possibly a disaster but I'm excited.

 

[Blusolyn]

I would try to think about positive things. Talk to someone, draw, play some video games, listen to music and so forth. Going outside the house somewhere.

[Kiah]

There's things like talking to friends, listening to music, taking a walk or even taking a nap that help cheer me up when I am feeling down. Then there are other things that I do like look at a good bunch of the over 40,000 photos I have taken. They are reminders of wonderful memories and experiences I have had and the wonderful people I have come across in 32 years in regards to friends and family and that always makes me grateful as well as happy.

Then there is this guy:

It's no secret that I am a huge Sonic fan and my favorite character of all time definitely cheers me up. Whether it is me listening to many of the wonderful tracks from the games over the years, watching the characterization-building cutscenes, playing one of the video games, or enjoying variety among the cartoons, any one of those things is enough to cheer me up. I would do them all if I had the time

Another thing I do is to take the focus off of myself and see what I can do for someone else as I love helping people. Unfortunately it seems like at least one of my friends either online or in real life is feeling down on stressed out about something all the time, so I make it a point to listen to them and allow them to vent, offer them some advice and/or encouragement and try to cheer them up. It helps cheer me up in the process.

I love to bake, especially with my niece and nephews. Often we will bake something for me to take to my co-workers, for their classmates, my sister's daycare, or it simply being something for ourselves . If I'm not giving sweets to the kids, I like to make goodie bags for them too and seeing the huge smiles on their faces always brings a smile on my face as well.

Doing something for someone else in effort to cheer them up never fails to cheer me up. It's definitely a win-win situation   

[Green Eyes]

Music,dancing,video games (duh), Art. Sometimes I enjoy cooking or preparing food.

Unfortunately these same things I can really beat myself up about sometimes, well accept for video games.

Honestly a lot of times it's just a simple thing like taking a shower, brushing my hair, having a cup of tea,eating,I guess you could kind a say it's just getting on with life. Sometimes I kind of feel like I can't go on and don't want to do anything and just stay in bed but that makes me feel worse, I don't feel better unless I actually do shit.

My attitude to fictional characters has actually changed a lot since I was younger. I've kind of shied away from fictional role models for as long as I can remember, and feared developing an attitude of worship (which has some nasty baggage for me) and resented the accusation. Eventually, I kind of just supposed that I have heroes and role models too and that's ok . Perhaps more accurately, characters that I recognise as representing certain elements, themes and qualities that I admire or just relate to or can apply to my life. They make me happy.

 

 

[PaddyFancy]

I've sadly almost whittled it down to one thing. Spending time with my parents, watching documentaries, cook shows or sitcoms. Don't get me wrong I love it a lot. Trouble is I'm having a lot of problems with my internet life so getting away from the computer and spending time with my parents is usually the final solution. Its not always as bad as that and I got either put a game I can just chill out one (a sandbox game or transport simulator), or put music on, but when things are bad, I can rely on the company of my parents.