When things get too much and all of life tastes sour, when you feel like you’ve been down this well before and still don’t know how to get out, when all hope is gone and you just want to lie on the floor forever more, remember this:
1. Don’t go to war against squirrels.
Sometimes it’s the little things that just tip you over. Your bread went mouldy. Your favourite jumper shrank in the wash. Some stupid idiot caught the back of your trainer with the tip of his boot and you almost fell over. Remember this: events triggered by unsentient beings or accidentally careless ones (including yourself) are not the universe’s acts of war. The world is not out to get you. Most things are not about you at all. Let it go.
2. Notice the details, appreciate the strangeness of daily life
Ah the daily grind that grinds you down to a fine powder of misery. You can pretend you don’t care, that you’re not even there at all as you weave through the crowd in rush hour. But that’s still effort. Use your eyes and all of your senses to rediscover the everyday. Notice how the crowd expands and contracts in a tube carriage. Be part of it, flow with rather than against the morning dances. Find the back of someone’s head endearing. Notice what the light does to buildings around you. Enjoy the polyphony of keyboards in your office. That disgusting mango yoghurt smell of the toilets’ air freshener, breathe it in fully. It’s pretty funny, actually. Life all around is absurd and so beautiful.
3. Do something different 
Eat your lunch for breakfast. Go out tonight and mosh that pit like you’re 17 years old. Go to bed by 18.00. Bite into a whole block of cheese. Walk the long way back in the rain. Cut your own hair. Doing strange things is exciting, and that unplanned, self-directed bit of fun may just succeed in pushing you out of your current state of despondency.
4. Go back to basics. Contract.
Eat, sleep, talk to a friend, hug somebody, keep warm, have a bath, meditate, generally take care of yourself in the simple ways you know how. Treat your low mood like an illness (if you’re depressed it is), but acknowledge that your frazzledness may well also be a natural reaction to adverse life/societal conditions, which you will need all your strength and the rest of your life to challenge. So collect yourself now, grow your innermost being, build up your basic groundedness in preparedness for tomorrow’s fighting.
5. Expand!
Find something that will make you proud of yourself (clear out ALL the dirty dishes. Throw away some shit. Dress up uncommonly stylish or radical. Dance. Draw. Write. Talk about how you feel, what you’re finding challenging with as many people as you dare. I find that when I’ve found a truthful way to tell my troubles, I feel I am beginning to repeat myself and even the cruellest disappointment starts to feel a bit meaningless, a bit boring… Somehow I feel I’m getting over it even though nothing has objectively changed. And by reaching out, doing something outside yourself, you make space for others to surprise you with their kindness.
6. Stretch…
Do something nice for someone else. Remind yourself that you have the power to make someone feel included, happy, safe, excited about stuff, even when you yourself feel like grey balls and shit. This type of experience is very validating, empowering, and morally of the highest order. You ma’am, sir, are an amazing human being.
7. Make a list of things that work for you, and keep it safe in case of emergencies.
Mine also includes: this old Jacques Dutronc music-hall song, lying flat on the floor for a bit, taking 10 very deep breath consecutively, stream of consciousness writing, scented oils, reading a whole novel in a weekend, Ron Stewart’s yoga classes (free online), soft warm food such as mashed potatoes or polenta with chilli sauce to quicken the blood, and spending a few leisurely hours with a friend one-on-one.
I wish you well. Good luck!
Ainsi: pareil 