50 Ways To Beat The Blues

With or without kids you can’t help but feel the stress of back-to-school days, and doesn’t watching summer end give us all a mild case of the blues? Shucks, just coping with the addition of yellow school buses in morning traffic and trying to figure out what to do with the expensive ferns you bought for your balcony will dial up your stress-o-meter, never mind the melancholy of putting your polka-dot thongs away.  Of course I’m talking about sandy flip flops. What were you thinking?

Whenever life gets crazy with change, end of summer or not, it’s important to make time for you amid the madness. But keeping life in balance can be hard to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed.  Just thinking about something else to do – even if it’s taking care of you – can become just one more thing too many.

So, to help you remember you without having to rack your brain trying to figure out how to do that, I’m going to do it for you with a sneak-peek from the LOOK AROUND section of my new book: Bounce! Don’t Break… Stories, reflections and words of encouragement through times of change.

50 Fun Things To Do

1. Go 99 cent card shopping – mail one to a friend and one to yourself.
2. Ask the manicurist to glue a gem on your pinky nail.
3. Take any kind of a “first class free” class.
4. Buy yourself some flowers at the grocery store.
5. Lie on a blanket & stare up at the sky.
6. Sit outside in the sun, close your eyes and listen to the birds.
7. Drive to the closest body of water and splash!
8. Pick out some fancy stationery to write on.
9. Visit an upscale market, drink the complimentary coffee and try all the food samples.
10. Plant some garden bulbs in a tight group.
11. Brush your hair 100 times.
12. Start a project with a friend – scrapbooking, knitting…
13. Take a train or bus ride.
14. Go roller or ice skating.
15. Subscribe to a new, fun magazine.
16. Make yourself a hot fudge banana split with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top!
17. Light every single candle in the house.
18. Drive to a new neighborhood then get out and walk it.
19. Read something worthless while you get a pedicure.
20. Sing in the shower! Loud!!
21. Go to a pet store and hold the bunnies.
22. Go to the animal rescue league and bring home a friend.
23. Order a gourmet sandwich you’ve never tried before and eat it at a picnic table.
24. Invite a friend to join you for coffee – wearing hats and gloves.
25. Go to a beauty school and get a facial.
26. Go fishing.
27. Open a cook book and make something complicated.
28. Don’t make the bed today.
29. Treat yourself to an outrageously priced cup of coffee or herbal tea at the mall.
30. Rent a kayak and drift away…
31. Drive to a scenic overlook, enjoy the view, take a photo and E-mail it to someone.
32. Dress up and go to the symphony.
33. Test your skill at an indoor shooting range.
34. Take a long lunch and go to an art exhibit or museum.
35. Stop at a yard sale and buy something – anything…
36. Eat at a diner and sit at the counter – leave a BIG tip for the waitress.
37. Camp out in a bookstore and read all afternoon.
38. Get naked and take an air bath.
39. Take a line dancing class.
40. Get a book on tape (free at the library) and start listening to it in the car while driving nowhere in particular. Finish it at home with popcorn.
41. Rent a season of your favorite TV show and have a marathon viewing.
42. Go to a vitamin store, research new supplements, try a free sample.
43. Order something fun and frivolous from a mail-order catalog.
44. Ride a bicycle built for two.
45. Enter a race or charity walk at the last moment.
46. Give blood.
47. Walk the neighbor’s dog.
48. Just walk.
49. Count your blessings instead of sheep.
50. This one you have to make up and share with me! ___________________

Just thinking about 50 fun things to do gives you a lift, doesn’t it?

Imagine how much better you’re going to feel when you pick one and do it!

Don’t let back-to-school, the end of summer or any changing season of life stress you out.

Choose instead to find peace in Christ.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 That’s the best way to beat the blues of any kind.