Pretend to Be Happy
Are you feeling a little (or a lot) down? If this isn't a frequent problem, it's okay - everyone gets the blues from time to time. Pretending to be happy can be one way to cope with a situation that is getting your down temporarily, or to avoid people asking you difficult questions. It can also be a great way to start improving your mood, just by focusing on wanting to be happy instead of staying stuck in the doldrums.
Contents
Steps
Putting on a happy face
- Smile. Smiling can release endorphins into your brain, which in turn can help you to feel better.
- Thinking of something amusing can help.
- Even forcing a smile can cause you to feel better; just be careful not to let it appear as a smirk!
- In some cases, it can help you to smile if you realize that smiling in front of someone who really upsets you can unsettle that person if they want you to be unhappy.
- Laugh. Find something funny to watch online or something funny to read that is short and amusing. Or, think of something that makes you happy, whether it is a joke someone recently told, a person that makes you laugh a lot, or a fond memory in general. As with smiling, laughter can help to cheer you up.
- Listen to music to let out some of your feelings.
- Trust yourself and never feel low. We all suffer from personal and office problems. Ensuring yourself every time that you are the happiest person is unusual at first but it really helps. Not believing in yourself leads to very harmful diseases and no one wants to live a life which has nothing but suffering from problem until your last breath.
Being active
- Carry out your usual routines. A lot of unhappy feelings come from feeling overwhelmed about all the things you have to get done. Thinking about them doesn't get them done, so try getting stuck into the things bothering you and in the doing, you will likely start to feel better.
- Do small actions that improve your sense of well-being. Tap your pencil on a table, drum your fingers on the edge of your seat, daydream, stretch out, hum quietly. Do whatever you do on your average good day, do on this day.
- Do things you enjoy doing. Keeping up appearances is a lot of effort and can cause you to feel even less happy. By participating in something you love to do, the feelings that come from being in the flow and enjoying yourself will be genuine and unforced. Give yourself the space and the time to get involved in such things more often and you won't need to pretend to be happy!
- Try spending some time alone for a while. It's a mini vacation and you will discover your own very self. It will help you to grow stronger with your emotions and handling matters which are a bit difficult. Make a personal diary; it can be helpful for sure.
Sharing your feelings
- Try to talk to someone. Sometimes it is just better to stop pretending you're happy and start letting out some of your sadness or anger instead. Talk to someone you trust and vent. It might a close friend or family member, or maybe a counselor. Letting your feelings stay bottled up will cause you to feel more unhappy and can harm your overall health in the long run.
- Be kind to other people. This can help you feel happier even though you don't feel great. Reaching out and helping others is a good way of shifting the focus from inside yourself to seeing how other people are coping (or not) and doing your best to give them a helping hand.
- Feel the brightest like the sun. We all know sun is not the brightest star in universe, but it's the one which gives us light after a dark night. Once you stick to this example, you will never feel low in confidence. Don't admire people until they are showing you the correct path because after this, you have to make yourself happy and then the others will try to become an example which everyone who knows you will feel. This is not you; this is someone great.
- Consider how often you're pretending to be happy over actually being happy. This can give you a clue to how much of your life is about putting on a front rather than living authentically. If you think that there is a massive imbalance, this might be a telltale sign that something isn't right for you, whether it's your job, your studies, your relationships or something else. If this is the case, it is time to focus more on the source of your pain and do something constructive about managing, reducing or removing it from your life.
Tips
- If someone else is talking to you, just nod and keep a light expression, there is no need for you to make comments and risk giving off your true negative disposition.
- Know that one day you won't have to pretend.
- Daydream: going into your personal world can release you from your sadness or anger for a while.
- Take an hour of a nap-chill out.
- Laugh for no apparent reason. It makes people think that you're not sad or down, they might find it humorously crazy.
- It's better to just talk to someone and get your anger or sadness sorted out.
- When alone, try laughing hysterically in the mirror, soon you'll really be laughing. It may sound crazy but it works. Just don't do it in public, because people may think you're insane.
Warnings
- Try hard to not make your "smile" look forced. It will be obvious to other people if it is, so either get practicing, or avoid smiling altogether.
- If at all possible, avoid talking or associating with anyone who was involved in making you unhappy. It may also be best to avoid association with other people in general until you get over yourself.
- Pretending to be anything else other than what you're feeling may be necessary for a short period of time, such as putting up with a family gathering once in a while that drives you crazy. However, pretending all of the time is exhausting and will inevitably lead to you giving vent to your frustration or resentment when you least expect it.
- Be very careful about being happy for someone else's growing achievements when you actually resent them. If this person continues to achieve things while you're left behind, it can cause a great deal of unhappiness for you. It's a good idea to sort out your resentment early on, and to get your own life's purpose sorted too.
- Bottling up emotions is not good for your health. It might be a sign of strength initially but after doing it too long, it's a bad habit that is hard to break because you've convinced yourself that being a martyr or suffering is noble. It isn't; you deserve better. Ultimately, a strong person ceases to pretend.
