How to get your PINK back

Have you woken up before and felt like your life was lacking color? Lacking happiness? Finding your ‘pink’ – that place of happiness- can be challenging sometimes. Now, I am no pro at all but something that I work hard to find are things that make me feel happy (aka getting my pink back). This could mean a variety of things depending on the person, for me it is all about how I feel when I wake up in the morning. I want to look forward to the day with no negative thoughts interrupting it. But how does one get to this? To me I do not believe it is normal anymore to feel like the sun is shining everyday and to look forward to getting out of bed. As a 22 year old, I have had plenty of periods of my life where I wanted to lay in bed all day every day. Plenty of moments where I have wanted to quit all my jobs, ghost all my friends. So the only way I can tell you to keep reading or be interested in this is I know what it is like. Honestly that is why I am starting this blog, a new hobby. So what do I consider to be the steps to getting your pink back? 

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.” —Deborah Day

1. Acknowledge that your pink is gone. Acknowledge that you are not okay. Acknowledge that it is okay that you are not okay. Acknowledge that you are stressed, overwhelmed, overworked. Acknowledge that you are sad. Acknowledge that it feels like work to answer your friends texts or to make plans. 

How does this help? I don’t know but by acknowledging you are not at your best you can take that as step one to getting a little bit better. This is one small step to getting your pink back. Once you acknowledge it, you have to think about it. You can not run from it anymore, this leads into step 2.

2. Give yourself time to be sad. Set a ‘deadline’. Once you acknowledge that you are not okay, give yourself 2-3 days to sit with that. When you reach your deadline it is then time to get moving. In these few days eat the ice cream, order the doordash, ghost your friends, let your laundry pile up and catch up on your shows. 

There is absolutely no reason to rush this. For some you might feel like you only need one day and some might need one month, there is no right or wrong. For me, sometimes I do need only one day and sometimes I need much longer. But when you get to your deadline it is go time! Some things I recommend during this period that might make you feel better are going for walks, if that seems like too much just sit in the sun. Go for car rides, sing your favorite songs loudly. Take an everything shower, if that seems exhausting take a nice long bath. Find your comfort meal, try to cook it. 

3. Find a hobby. Try reading a new author, read all her books. Rate them, post about them. Maybe crafts, is there a piece of jewelry you have been wanting to buy? Go to a craft store and try to make it. Print out some coloring sheets. Journal your days. This could be writing out your days or sloppy journaling. Learn how to bake a new cake. Try painting something. Make some clay figurines. Make tiktoks of all your hobbies, save them as drafts or post them. Start going to the gym, come up with a routine you love and master it. Go try a new sport. Learn how to do your own nails. Reorganize your whole room, your whole house, your whole life! Literally anything can be a hobby if you want it to be. 

When you start this hobby, do it all the time. It doesn’t matter if you are good at it, it matters that it is putting a smile on your face. 

4. Be around people. Go to lunch with your grandma, dinner with your family, drinks with friends. Go for a walk at a park with someone. Have a girls night with your best friends. Host a dinner party. Go see the new movie you thought looked cool. 

Notice that your friends are still there, notice that they love you. They understand, more than likely they have been there too. Notice that they missed you. Think about the memories you are making with them, the laughs you are having. Notice that your family comments on how you seem better. Notice how smiling is coming naturally again. You are almost there. 

5. Do things on your own that seem weird. Go eat a meal at a restaurant by yourself. Get a drink at a bar by yourself. See a movie by yourself. Go sit at a bakery by yourself. Watch the random strangers around you. 

Notice that you are comfortable. It isn’t weird being out by yourself. In fact it feels nice to know that if you want to do something you can do it alone and don’t have to wait for someone else to be able to go with you. You feel comfortable alone. You have a hobby, you are smiling, you are comfortable alone. 

Now do I think these are all of the steps? No not at all, there are hundreds and honestly I could go into them all but I do not think anybody would want to read that. But it helps to know where to start. Again what works for me, might not work for you but hopefully something I said gives you an idea of where to start. 

Do not be scared. Do not worry about anyone but yourself. Do not stress. Everything will be okay. You will be okay. 

TLDR: 

Yeah. That was a lot, here it is summed up. 

1. Acknowledge that you are not okay
2. Allow time for sadness and to process your feelings
3. Explore new hobbies
4. Be around others
5. Be with yourself 

Overall, remember this is a long journey. This does not happen overnight but it will be worth it. Be patient with yourself, embrace the little wins and know that your pink is in the future. I believe in you.