The wrong side of the bed.
I never understood this expression.
When I was younger, I literally thought it meant that you rolled over and got up on the side of the bed you don't normally get up on.
What does it really mean?
(idiomatic) To feel irritable; to be in a bad mood; to have a bad day from the start, for no particular reason. I think my boss got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He's been grumpy all day. — Wiktionary
While I still don't fully understand why this phrase exists, I can easily use it in a sentence. Today, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Everything irritated me. But why?
I had over 8 hours of sleep, I drank a lot of water, didn't have any symptoms of an illness, but I was constantly put off by every little thing that went wrong.
How did I solve it?
- I worked from home. I distanced myself from others knowing I wasn't in a mood for small talk.
- I let myself sleep in a bit. Try to reset my mindset.
- I was mindful of my situation. Having the headspace to let others know you're having an off day and giving yourself the chance to feel whatever it is that is causing you to feel a bit down in the dumps is what is important.
- Let it be. Don't try to fix it. I tried to clean the house, maybe that was why I was in a bad mood, but that just caused more stress as I fell down a dark hole of reorganizing.
- I went for a walk and changed my surroundings. A change of scenery in some cases helps and exercise always helps.
- Avoid making any big decisions. If something can wait, let it wait. Focus today on small manual or mindless tasks. Be in the best headspace you can when you need to make decisions that could have larger consequences.
Needless to say, I was not at my best today — and that's OK. We all need a personal day to sometimes let out any feelings of sadness, angst or aggression we're feeling, and today was that day for me.
How do you handle waking up on the wrong side of the bed?