Last week, someone inadvertently infected me with their bad mood.
It was so subtle that I didn’t even notice it at first.
But for the rest of the day I began to notice that when I wasn’t actively engaged in conversation, I was furrowing my brow, I was scowling. I noticed that things didn’t go my way that day. I was on edge, I was mean to a customer service rep, my fuse was too short. By the middle of the day, I was in a full blown outbreak of negative emotions. Even my professional interactions had a certain edge to it. I didn’t like it.
All it took was one person setting my day off the wrong way, and me allowing myself to be infected.
“It’s just THAT kind of day”
Have you ever said that to someone, or had someone say that to you?
I don’t know how to stop THAT day dead in its tracks just yet, but I’m pretty good about stopping it before it gets started.
One of the reasons why I typically appear to be in a good mood, is because I’m keenly aware of how my mood affects other people. In the exact same way that a cold or flu can spread from person to person, so can a bad mood, or a good mood. So I’m very conscious of what I’m putting out there.
For now my plan is to put it off to the side, quarantine the experience, and deal with it later, when I can safely work through it without infecting others.
As you go about your day, never forget that the mood you are carrying around isn’t just the mood you’re in, but it’s potentially the mood you’re likely to infect others with.