I really don’t have the energy… my backs hurts… I am tired… I just want to eat and go to bed. All the thoughts running through my mind when arriving home yesterday from my shift. I had just realised I had a 7.30pm Zoom meeting for 2 hours. My mood was low and I really wasn’t looking forward to it. It was turning a meeting that I normally enjoy into a chore.
In contrast, when I finished my shift today, I was energised, looking for activity and making lots of mental plans for my evening on the way home. My back pain was still present, but today it didn’t seem to bother me as much. I was in a good mood and therefore any pain seemed more tolerable.
In the end, I enjoyed the meeting yesterday. Also, my ambitious list of plans for this evening never came to fruition, but I still had a nice evening. In hindsight, none of my expectations linked to either mood were realised. Curious how mood can act as a coloured spotlight, making things seem brighter or duller than they are? Fortunately, I did not act on either mood by cancelling my meeting or setting myself a ‘to do list’ that would have spoilt my evening. I simply waited to see how it panned out in reality.