"You're not the same as you were before... you were much 'muchier'... you have lost your muchness."
Muchness is something that my mother and I use to describe all the sparkly things in your smile and energy. It is the sparkle in your eye, the squint when you smile, and the skip in your step. It is really hard to keep up your muchness, especially in times like this - let's talk about it.
I am known as the most energetic in the Bridal Salon I work at! ( I know, but let's just pretend to be shocked for a second.) I have always related to Alice in Wonderland when it comes to this quote especially because unfortunately, I do not even notice when my muchness is missing, normally someone has to point it out. Before I started at the salon I had gotten in a slump like most of us have during these stressful and uncertain times, but after many conversations with my mom and friends; I started to do things that made me happy, which helped me get my undeniable muchness back. I was known as the "happy girl" and I was going to get that title back! Here are a few things I did.
I bought myself flowers
I know this seems silly and should not benefit that much, but if you are like me and love running through fields of flowers and wish on every dandelion you come across; well this will help more than you think. We have a flower district in Los Angeles, so I grabbed a couple of friends and headed out; not only did we find some gorgeous fall flowers, but we laughed and just enjoyed ourselves.
I started writing down EVERYTHING
I wrote down everything! I had to remember that every feeling and thought I had was valid and had a reason for popping in. That dismissing those thoughts and feelings was all around going to be detrimental to my mental health. In turn, I would write everything down. Not only for me to get these thoughts and feelings out, but that way later I could go back and read these thoughts and feelings to reflect on how much I had grown. You would be shocked at how quickly you grow when those hard times hit.
I reached out to friends
Saying this, I did not have very many friends at the time. I do not talk to anyone in my graduating class anymore and had made one really great friend here in Los Angeles. There was sometimes I would just call my friend to have her on the other end. My mom is someone that I called often. We have echo shows (so we can see each other) and I would drop in almost every night right around 6:30 her time to just sit on the other end. There were times when we didn't say anything and if we did it was probably a solid 7 words, but I just needed that person on the other end of the line.
I got into real clothes every day
This is a major boost. I would wake up at 7 and put on real clothes and head to grab a Starbucks coffee, or I would wake up at 3 in the afternoon with no motivation, but I put on jeans and a t-shirt and walked to target to just look at the home decor and price of bananas this week. You will be shocked at how well getting into normal clothes will actually help your mood.
I went on a walk daily
Now, I live in Downtown Los Angeles; so saying it was for the fresh air is a bald-faced LIE. I live in a small apartment so I would force myself to get out and walk around for a minute. Not only did I enjoy the vitamin D that my body desperately needed, but I got to where I would see some regular faces on my walk to smile at. Heck, I have gotten pretty close to a woman who lives in my apartment that we would somehow always run into each other.
I relied on people close to me
As I mentioned a little bit in the reaching out to friends part of this. I relied heavily on the people close to me. I knew I was not going to able to get my muchness back by myself, and that is OKAY! You should not expect yourself to get your muchness back alone. It is impossible.
I made myself find at least one positive during everyday
This is something that I try to do no matter my attitude. Everyone has bad days and that is okay, but there is always a silver lining. There are some days that you feel so crummy that the only silver lining that you can find is that you woke up that morning. That is okay, but hey you found something positive! Haha... now I am starting to see why I got the nickname "Positive Polly" in high school...
I would eat 3 meals a day
This is something that would help pull me into a routine. I am already pretty bad about making sure that I eat consistently, but this really helps. I even got to where I set alarms on my phone to remind me to cook something, even when the last thing I wanted to do was eat. Heck, even if you order Taco Bell or some sort of fast food. At least you ate something, and that is a small win and step to getting that muchness back.
I danced
You know me. I dance in the rain, and honestly anytime I have an excuse to dance. I vividly remember a moment. I had a terrible sleeping schedule, and I could not be motivated to do anything. I was taking my shower before going to bed. Once I got out and went through my skincare routine I looked at myself in the mirror and genuinely laughed. This was something that I had not done in a hot second. So I grabbed a playlist that I was making called 'dance it out' (you can tell I was watching Grey's Anatomy again) I turned it on a blared it. I danced from 4:30 am to 5:15 am. That was when I got my muchness back, but that is how I have always shown my muchness. I danced until I
couldn't breathe anymore, and I tell ya - that is the best I had felt in a long time.
I know that September was Mental Health Awareness month and this is more of a mental health blog, but let's be honest... we could all use reminders throughout the year to check on our muchness levels. How do you take care of your muchness meter?
Much love!
Josephine A. Meinardus
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