Adulting: fake it until you make it

By Beatriz Vieira

         Today I woke up and I wasn’t feeling too good about myself. All my insecurities felt like they were highlighted in my body, I felt very tired and lazy and really didn’t want to do anything but stay in bed. However, I still had to show up at work, go to my classes, do my assignments, take a quiz, and write a paper. Some days, making the decision to do what’s right and fulfill my responsibilities is extremely hard. My motivation is completely out the door even though I’ve cracked my eyes open less than 15 seconds before the thought ever even crosses my mind.

         As a half-responsible semi-adult, my solution to this problem was to slap a fake smile on my face and move on with my daily responsibilities until it became a real smile. While this may seem counterintuitive since having a display of “fake” emotions is generally frowned upon by society, it works super well. By pasting on a smile and “acting” happy, at some point, it stops being a chore and it just becomes what you’re feeling.

    When I first started doing this, my goal wasn’t to magically change my mood or have this become my “How to Fix a Bad Day” hack. I simply wanted to present a normal front to people, since no one usually does anything to deserve other people’s bad moods. However, I quickly noticed that by maintaining the same energy I usually have when I’m having a good day, I began to naturally match that energy, and my day started improving. While this isn’t an encouragement to avoid your problems by pretending they are not there, or an encouragement to deny your feelings, which are by no means healthy ways of dealing with our emotions, it is a way to change how you feel during the day so you can be more productive and less stressed.

Just by focusing on positive emotions and events as well as making a conscious effort to keep those lips in a smile, you’ll be able to feel a change in your mood and energy levels. This will make the harder parts of “adulting” a little easier, and hopefully a little more fun too. However, I will once more emphasize that this isn't a long-term solution to any problem, it's simply a way to make overwhelming feelings a little more manageable in your day-to-day life which does not substitute real professional help if you do need it.