When I’m Upset

What do you do when you’re upset? I pondered that a bit this weekend. I’m not one of those self destructive people when I’m upset. I don’t get drunk, eat too much, or lay around. I don’t stop bathing or walk around in my bathrobe.

I try and indulge my upsetness and turn it into something. I think I get this from my grandma, who was never idle a day in her life. She “worked out” her frustrations and happy situations the same way: by cleaning. I do this too. But I also do some others, depending on what I’m upset about and how much anger I’m trying to get rid of. So here’s what I do.

Cleaning

This is by far my husband’s least favorite way for me to work through my frustrations. Mostly, probably, because I pull him into it, too. I will walk in a room and announce that “it’s a pig sty!” and let the cleaning begin. Also because he thinks my cleaning routines are little too much anyways, so when I really go at it when I’m upset he worries about me. He shouldn’t. Cleaning makes me feel good.

One thing I like about it is that no matter how messed up your world, you can at least get your physical space in order. How can you be upset when your refrigerator is organized properly and your bathroom has everything in its place and your closets are like an organizer’s dream? You can’t.

Writing Poetry

Some people write letters when they are angry that they don’t plan on sending. I don’t write when I’m angry so much, but when I’m hurt or upset I pour it all out. I never aim to write poetry when I’m upset, but my brain just works that way. I begin to think of metering first, and the words naturally come to fit nicely in the metered rhythm. This routine soothes me. It’s like someone singing a favorite song to me, it makes me move past any negativity. I don’t always keep or publish everything I write, though. But I enjoy the lyricism of poetry so I never feel like my time is lost.

Crafts

A lot of my fellow bloggers are some of the most amazing craftspeople in the business. They blog, craft, write books, have art exhibits, and more. So talented. So we’ve all been talking a lot about doing some crafts during these days while we are all upset. There is something very soothing about creating something beautiful with your hands. Every once in a while I type in #arttherapy in Twitter just to see what comes up. The craft projects people work on make me smile.

Crafts were my chosen method of working out my frustrations this weekend. I’m working on a few items that I’ll show here in a bit. I love working with tools when it comes to crafts. So I’m doing some soldering and embossing for two different projects. One thing I never do anymore when I’m upset is paint pictures. I used to paint a lot, but when I was angry I felt that this negative emotion actually showed in my work. I once painted a picture of birds and I swear each bird had a scowl on its face! Not good.

Baking

This is my husband’s favorite way for me to work out frustrations. I love baking, and when I’m upset I get into a baking frenzy. I make a ton of items, which, after completion I never want in the house. So he takes them to work. (I’ve heard that his coworkers enjoy this way of me working through my frustrations.) Before I was married, I worked with a few crazy people that were trying to get on my last nerve, and I baked every single night. Then I’d bring it in my baked goods. It got to the point where people were actually waiting for me to come in some mornings. They’d have concern on their faces, “How was your night?” and then they’d immediately grab my item (bread, cake, cookies) and head off into the kitchen. How can you stay frustrated when that happens?