I'm a right curmudgeon this morning!

But no idea why….

Although, I think the devil dogs may be in a worse mood than me 🤣😉 Its the eyes that does it.

There is a little plea about journaling at the bottom of this post. Please leave a comment or DM (a new Substack feature) if you are interested or know people who maybe interested in a supportive journaling group.

Onto the curmudgeon’s post!

I hate mornings when I wake up out of sorts and grumpy, yes a real curmudgeon. That's how it was this morning. There is no particular reason other than the grey, grey day outside. I want to see the sun. As usual, after the bad morning topic popped up into my head, I thought I ought to dive into the rabbit 🐇 warren, but only a little way. Why do I do it to myself? Having just discussed boundaries a while ago, I think I need to set a rabbit 🐇 warren boundary.

I started with quotes for bad moods. Good Reads are always good for the odd quote or two. The first really seemed to fit my mood and is from Bill Watterson:

“I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood.”

The second was from Mokokoma Mokhonoana, but not for the reason you may think:

“Our enemy’s good deeds are bad for our mood.”

It struck me because for balance I should look up good mood quotes expecting these to be far greater but no, also the first was from Mokokoma Mokhonoana:

“Our enemy’s good deeds are bad for our mood.” Spot the difference? How can the same quote be in both good and bad mood quotes?

The second good mood quote is from E.A. Bucchianeri, Vocation of a Gadfly. Just to add balance.:

“Everyone is in such a good mood when they've eaten well.”

The second reason I regret going down the rabbit 🐇 warren is because there is some scientific answers to my statement and a lot of other advice. It is at this point what was intended as a short post could become a lot longer. Brandon Bell has five explanations in his article 5 Reasons Why You’re Waking Up In A Bad Mood A few ways to avoid being grumpy in the morning. They are:

1. Not Eating The Right Foods Before Bed

2. You’re Not Getting Enough Magnesium

3. Drinking Too Much Alcohol Before Bed

4. You Keep Skipping Breakfast

5. Avoiding a Proper Night Routine

Although the only one that I wouldn't have thought of is magnesium. Yes, hands up, I am a smarty pants. So I will leave the reasons here. If I attempt to go into the fox 🦊 den I will start waffling and get bogged down in research. Plus round here it is still easy to get stuck in the mud in the warrens and dens with the amount of rain we have had. It is thankfully getting better.

My next question. Does waking up in a bad mood get worse as you age? Not according to the research on the ncbi website Mood impairment is stronger in young than in older adults after sleep deprivation. The results show that older adults are emotionally less affected by sleep deprivation than young adults. It is a bit more complicated than that so if you are interested follow the link.

I do remember in our house when we had teenagers. The younger members required food before you dared speak to them. At weekends it could not be before 12 noon. If you needed to get them up for school some days, it was wet fannels at 50 paces, close the bedroom door and run. Reading that back I definitely sound in the poorer parenting category 😁.

What one piece of advice would you give an old curmudgeon like me who has got out the wrong side of the bed?

Getting out of bed the other side is not an option, not with 60kgs of black labrador dogs in the way.

So yes folks another short curmudgeonly post this Thursday. But I will leave you with something useful from the School of Life.

An old quote I was told today that made me smile.

Older people shouldn't eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get. Robert Orben

Journaling

I am still keen to get old journaling going and thinking of ways of extending it outside those of us who journal. I am also trying to think of ways of using Substack but also to extend find an option for groups who may not use substack. Connecting with people of different ages, from different places, different backgrounds can be so rewarding and beneficial. There are many people living alone who could benefit. I have been thinking a lot about letter writing for example.

Journaling is genuinely something that can help people who may feel lonely to not only write down their thoughts but also to connect with other people. Checkout

Tanya Lynch

With Ease for more details on the benefits of therapeutic journaling. Please think about people you know who may be interested.

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