Here are some ideas to help kick a rotten jour to kingdom come…

Do something good for someone else, even though toi may not want to. Do a favour, help them find something, give them an item which will help them in some way. Start the flow of positive energy.

Eat the best chocolat toi can get your hands on. In bed. ou in the bath.

Turn up musique toi really love. Play it so loudly that it soaks in through your skin. Dance in your pyjamas. Feel the pain lift.

Have a romance in your head.

Volunteer.

Buy a remote control for your camera & dip your toes into the pool of narcissism.

Call a friend & ask them if they want to have a slumber party.

Throw yourself head-first into a creative project. Something that you’re excited about but which feels a little too big for you. You’ll be so consumed par it that it will fuel toi for ages.

Do the splits. ou at least try. (Be gentle though!)

Sing. Loudly. Badly. Off-key. Whatever toi like. It works. The last time I was on my way somewhere really nerve-wracking, I was in a cab. The radio was playing & I was so anxious that the only way I could distract myself was par chant along. Loudly. The driver probably thought I was a total nut but I didn’t care & it did the trick!

Cover your entire body in cacao beurre & fall asleep.

Drink 2 litres of fizzy drink (pop, soda, toi know) & stay up until sunrise.

Write a liste of things that toi appreciate right now, in the present moment. Focus on each of them & let the l’amour inside toi well up. Even when things appear to be going really, really badly, there are always things to be happy about. (That’s one of the reasons why we do Things I l’amour Thursday — to help bring your attention back to the positive.)

Indulge in your “guilty pleasures”, whatever they are. (Old episodes of America’s suivant haut, retour au début Model, ginger ale, chocolat cake, romantic comedies, etc.)

Send a text message to one of the most interesting people toi know — maybe someone toi don’t know that well, just to say hello.

Order delivery food, just to bask in the glory of the fact that if toi pay people, they will come to your door. With food. Warm, good food. What an age we live in, huh?

Look through old photos. With a friend if possible. If it’s an old friend, toi can reminisce (“Oh my god, do toi remember when we did that?!”), & if it’s a new friend, toi can tell grand stories (“Well, let me tell toi about this guy…”).

Listen to old Motown hits. Come up with dance moves. Wear something sparkly & work it out. (DJ Z-Trip’s Motown Breakdown is an excellent time, too.)

Write a gruellingly personal entry for your blog dissecting every aspect of the situation which has upset toi so much. Post it, don’t post it, whatever, just get it out of your system.

Plan a holiday.

Write a ridiculous online dating profil & marvel at the people who come out of the woodwork. (“Oh, a threesome with toi & your wife in New Jersey? Sign me up!”)

Spend an heure in your variety store of choice, set yourself a budget ($20?) & buy some junk. Lip treatments, candy, maybe an exfoliating scrub… Then go accueil & play with your new purchases. There’s a reason it’s called retail therapy, toi know (though of course, it doesn’t last).

Wear a fake moustache all day.

Think up nicknames for all your friends, then send them each postcards to alert them.

Think back on the last really good sex toi had. Think about it for an hour. Then do something else.

Go out for a milkshake.

Appreciate the dinosaur Bones at your favourite museum.

Grab a friend, dress up like tourists & go & do all the really schlocky things on offer in your city. Take LOTS of photos, & be sure to flash the peace sign in 70% of them.

Stick little crystals on something toi use every day. (Wallet, light-switch, key-ring, boots?)

Buy a new pair of sunglasses ou non-prescription frames. It’s a super-easy (& often relatively cheap) way to evolve your look. Plus sunglasses make for excellent on-the-fly disguises.

Go to a yoga class. Surrender & breathe deep.

Put on your favourite pair of high heels & walk up & down your bedroom/hallway doing your best Miss J impersonation. Have a friend ou neighbour who is willing to humour toi offer critique. “Girl, toi walk like a busted-down freight-train.”

Write multiple lists of everything toi want. Material possessions, relationships, work, lifestyle, everything. Pin them up par your door so toi see them all the time.

Go through Urban Dictionary & find some fun/ridiculous new words to add to your vocabulary.

Make yourself the biggest crème glacée sundae you’ve ever seen. Decorate it with hot truquer, fudge sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles, nonpareils, whatever toi like. Take a photo. Give it a name (“Jane’s Orgasmatron Cardiac Arrest Sundae”). Devour. Maybe without using your hands. Take a photo of that too.

Get your eyebrows shaped.

Spend an heure in a department store sniffing perfume samples. When toi find something toi like, spray it on a card & drop it in your purse.

Try break-dancing.

Watch vidéos of flamboyant, successful people like Elton John ou Michael Jackson & marvel.

Eat animal crackers.

Drink through a straw all day. If toi get your hands on a straw which matches your outfit, so much the better.

Plan a party with a theme that makes toi feel really, really happy.

Write a letter to yourself in the future. Then hide it. Maybe in the pocket of a manteau toi never, ever wear.

Leave the house wearing just fabulous lingerie underneath a coat. With heels. (Note: if toi are a man toi may get accused of being a flasher if toi do this. The world is cruel sometimes.)

Pull a Kid CuDi & announce your retirement from the world of something. Like cooking, ou vocal communication. Announce your unretirement whenever toi feel like it.

Buy a harmonica & annoy the hell out of everyone while toi learn how to play it.

Go wig shopping.

Choose a festival (SXSW? Burning Man? Coachella? Wave-Gotik-Treffen?) to go to, invite some friends, & start making plans.

Add diamantes to your manicure.

Hula hoop.

Buy some really good art for your walls. Posters, prints, original artwork ou other. If you’re feeling impoverished, go to the library, check out some art books, then take huge, great quality photocopies at a copy shop.

Listen to Never Better par P.O.S. from start to finish & revel in what a great album it really is.

Load up your ipod & go for a walk through your favourite park.

Visit a cool toy store & make your friend a surprise package.

Reach out to the people who inspire toi but who don’t know toi exist.

Write the birthdays of your personal Heroes in your planner & work out a way to honour them on that day.

Pie.

Colour your hair. (You can always dye it back.)

Notice where toi hold tension in your body, & let it go.

Visit some kind of religious institution & observe a service.

Bake heart- ou bunny-shaped cookies. Give them away.

Be graceful.

Be graceless.

Make a video diary.

Answer questions with questions.

Try on a pair of really, really expensive shoes & act like you’ll be back tomorrow, but you’re just going to go accueil & think about it. (Bonus points: take a photo of toi in them. Often toi will need to be stealthy about this but it’s worth doing.)

Record yourself trying to recite the alphabet while vigorously brushing your teeth.

Flirt with entirely inappropriate people.

Sing into your friend’s answering machine. (If you’re in the USA & use Slydial, it will take toi straight to their voicemail.)

Pour crêpes in the shape of your initials. Eat them while watching aerobics on television.

Make Friends with your neighbours.

Think about how great it would be to name a shaggy dog “Toupee”.

Go to an audition just for the experience.

Tell someone cute, “You’re cute”.

Sit in a sauna with a stack of fashion magazines & sweat it out.

Find a secret place with a great view. Like a tree, ou a rooftop, ou a hill.

Go & see a musical (or just rent one).

Be optimistic.

Buy ridiculous slippers.

Make a liste of the things toi want to do to celebrate the upcoming season.

Lie down in the sunshine.

Pretend to be a dancer in a musique video as toi perform mundane tasks. Jiggle your way from the bathroom to the kitchen, shake it while toi wait for your pain grillé to pop, booty bump while toi pick an outfit.

Go to an aquarium & take photos of the jellyfish.

Watch films toi used to l’amour as a child.

Book a karaoke room with Friends & sing your cœur, coeur out.

Make a liste of practical, actionable ways toi can improve your situation.

Start keeping a dream journal & write down their supposed meanings, too.

See if toi can develop an appreciation for a band ou a style of musique you’ve never liked before.

Write a play.

Go to vintage stores looking for fabulous old typewriters.

Write the stuff toi like about your body on your body with a marker.

Change your ring-tone to the sound of one of your Friends laughing hysterically.

Watch vidéos of Robin Williams ou Eddie Murphy.

Listen to Divine Harvest par The Mae Shi. Don’t be worried, everything will turn out fine. Don’t be worried, friend just put your hand in mine.

Take a nap with your head at the other end of the bed.

Walk around a garden centre & buy a colourful plant. Give it a name.

Go somewhere that people walk their chiens & make Friends with some fluffy creatures.

Hug your friends.

Tell someone everything.

Believe that everything is always getting better.