Ways NOT to Cope

Yesterday I had a glass of wine. I hadn't had any since last November. No, I'm not an alcoholic counting my sober days. But I am constantly struggling with depression, which alcohol tends to amplify. God, that glass of wine was good! But today I struggled with crankiness and low confidence. And the negative moods made me want another glass of wine. That is a cycle I don't want to start, so I ate a bunch of chocolate instead. Then my stomach hurt. Finally, I drank a cup of tea - something that doesn't make it all feel worse, go figure.

The whole situation got me thinking that it might be fun to list the things that are NOT helpful when I am feeling down (although I frequently turn to them):

• drinking alcohol
• eating straight out of the bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard every time I walk by
• reading facebook (everyone just makes up all those happy posts, right?)
• staring at myself in the mirror
• holding my breath and gritting my teeth
• listening to country music
• drinking coffee at any and all hours of the day (it may make me jittery, but not happy)
• reading Happiness Magazine (you may not be familiar with this if you live outside of the plain states and midwest, but it is sappy to the point of nausea)
• inviting my three-year-old to help bake a cake (it seemed like a good idea at the time)
• watching The Tudors

Please feel free to share your unhelpful coping methods.