Everyday Musings > Not in the mood

Our moods rule our lives. Mine have ever since I can remember.

I'd wait for the weather to tell me what I felt like wearing, would study when I felt like studying, suddenly feel in the mood to sleep during my Math tuitions and bounce back to a happy mood when it was time to chat with friends.

Moods stay on in spells. Sometimes for days, months, even years. Some are personal to us, like you're generally feeling blue, don't want to step out of bed, just lie in, contemplate, eat junk, watch tv, be numb. Then there's the infectious moods everyone catches, like Monday Blues, Saturday Night fever. Or holiday moods or exam blues. All moods we live everyday. Artistic temperament is nothing but a mood swing. In an artist – very inspiring, in your spouse – as irritating. We all have our pet mood phrases. 'I'm like this only', 'Mood nahi hai yaar', 'Don't feel like it','Chod na yaar', 'Bore ho raha hai yaar', 'Tu apna kaam kar na'.

My friend S today sent me a link to a website www.moodcheck.com. It had a list of questions on multiple choice questions which finally lead to what mood you're in right now. Their moods were classified under 'intuition', 'satisfaction', 'perfection' and 'innovation'. I've never seen moods classified like that. Each seemed to lead to an action. If mine came up innovation, I would probably be energetic and raring to go and create something. If Satisfaction, then I had probably just finished with my job list or fulfilled a wish.

Moods are a result of our inaction or action. Not vice versa. This means we think about something and then do or not do something about it and our mood arises as a result of it. This means, we always create our moods. They stem from us. Then why do all of us feel so powerless in the face of a mood. Why do we deal with it like it's something that jumped on us from a tree, and we have no control over it?

Now when I look back, I realise that I manipulated my life with my moods, choosing to believe that my moods choose what I would do. And lived like that. Avoiding things I didn't want to do, doing things that suited me, living a life that was well within my comfort zone.

Writing 500 words a day started as a reaction to the moods. I realised that I always waited for an inspiration to do anything. A mood that made it worth the effort. I was being a slave to excuses and reasons when I gave into my moods. And decided to write 500 words regardless of the mood that I am in.

To tell you the truth, I'm not in the mood to write this right now. And my mind's found enough reasons to not to. I'm suddenly very sleepy, there's a mosquito that's demanding my attention, my feet feel dry and I need to cream them, I'm thirsty too, and probably will feel hungry soon, even though I just had my dinner. 500 words done. Guess I'm not in the mood for excuses today.