Good afternoon!

Have any of you every seen the Audrey Hepburn movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s? It has always been one of my favorites!! There is a scene where Holly Golightly, Miss. Audrey Hepburn’s character, is talking about having the “mean reds”:

“You know those days when you’ve got the mean reds…. the blues are because you’re getting fat or maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re sad, that’s all. But the mean reds are horrible. You’re afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don’t know what it is.”
– Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Well, here is something you may not know about me…I have a tendency to have to work around the mean reds all the time! SO, to make sure that the mean reds do not rule my life, I make sure to always have a contingency plan of sorts in place! This is my list of 10 things I turn to whenever I find the mean reds starting to strike!

1. Get up and move! Dance, go for a walk, twirl (yes, I said twirl!), do something to get the blood pumping for at least 5 – 10 minutes!
2. Put on some “happy” music! For me that could be some really cool jazz, or soulful blue grass, or some music from my childhood, which for me would either be twangy country (garage sale-ing with my grandma – my FAVE!!!), or it could be some acapella Christian music (I was a pastors daughter don’tcha know?), I have even been known to rock out to some Disney tunes – I know, absolutely shocking right??? That is ok, I am currently in a 12-step program to deal with my “addiction”!! Hee! Hee! 🙂
3. Write it out baby!!! That is right, I always try to have a journal handy! No matter what is going on, I can always go find a quiet corner and just right out whatever it is that is going on at the moment, and somehow in doing that it alleviates whatever negative feeling is going on at the moment! I also love that you can go back later and see what seemed so terribly important at the moment; looking back on it,there are times when it kind of seems comical now.
4. Talking about writing, my new obsession is doodling!! I am doing that all the time, everywhere!! Staff meetings, waiting for my sweetie to get home, while watching the tele, while on vacation…EVERYWHERE!!!
5. Create some art! What I am talking about is beyond doodling. It is taking the time to get out the paints, and the papers, and the pens & inks, and just taking some time to create something that you will actually get to hang on your wall and see every day! Yeah – I LOVE THAT!!! 😉
6. Take a luxurious shower. This is not your average rushing-around-first-thing-in-the-morning-so-you’re-not-late shower, this is the OMG-I-have-a-full-30-minutes-to-just-luxuriate-in-the-my-shower-just-me-my-thoughts-and-my-loofa! Those moments don’t happen too often in my life, but I really should make more time for this – it is such a little thing!!! 🙂
7. Fall into a good book. Scratch that, I mean fall into a REALLY GOOD book!!! This is one of my main go-tos!! and I don’t mean reading some boring, dry non-fiction, something or other that you have to read for this thing or that. The book that you choose for trying to combat the mean reds should be a scrumdiddlyumptious fiction, something that if you read too many of might rot your brain!!
8. Call up a good friend!! This would be the best time to call up your BFF – you know who that is!! Be brave, step out! She might just love to meet you for coffee, or a relaxing stroll through downtown – or heck, she might even be dealing with the mean reds herself and could use some BFF time too!!
9. Meditate. This is something that I have only added to my mean reds arsenal within the last year, but just by getting silent, breathing deeply, and just concentrating on what is happening inside of myself & my truth, even if for only 10 minutes, has been a game changer for me!
10. Do something nice for someone else. It could be anything, big or small. Just the act of doing something for someone else takes you out of your own head and helps you focus on someone other than you! You may see that you don’t really have it as bad as you had originally made it out to be.

I know that, at least for me, and maybe you too, the mean reds will always have a chance to rear it’s ugly little head in my life, but with a contingency plan, I know that no matter what form the mean reds take for me, I know I will make it through! I hope this list has possibly given you some ideas on how to deal with your mean reds too!! 🙂

Here is to a HAPPY & Mean Reds Free day!! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!