Ms. Misery Loves Company or not?

You know when you are in a bad mood and your well intentioned joyous friend comes bee bopping up to you and you just want to bite her bee bopping head off, just because she is in a good mood? What in the hell gives her the right to be all bubbly? Didn't she get the memo? If my life sucks I have the right to suck the life out of everything around me. MS. MISERY LOVES COMPANY, BUT ONLY IF THAT COMPANY WANTS TO SHARE IN HER MISERY.

We've all had our Ms. Misery and Ms. Bee Bop moments. Here are some tips for our double personalities.

MS. MISERY being confronted by MS. BEE BOP

1. If you are so far gone that you can't accept a little smile and a good morning just lock yourself in your room and send out an SOS.
2. Give Ms. Bee Bop fair warning that you are not accepting any happiness in a very matter of fact manner. Ms. Bee Bop just wants the facts
3. Let Ms. Bee Bop take her Happy Hammer and tap your misery shell so a little happiness can seep in.

MS. BEE BOP confronting MS. MISERY

1. Once Ms. Misery has stated the facts, test the waters with non confrontational waves.
2. Don't engage in happy conversation, just bring her her favorite soft drink. Ms. Misery really wants her happiness to come out, but it can't be forced. Wait for her to start talking.
3. If her conversation is all about her misery, smile and nod, provide support, only give advise if requested.
4. Do not feed the misery animal with misery snacks. It will cause a feeding frenzy.

Happiness can seem like the most unpopular thing, misery definitely loves misery company. I have also experienced women who disguise misery as happiness and become Ms. Rumor Mill. They are so miserable in their lives that they bee bop around talking about other's miseries or uninteresting life events, so they don't have to deal with their own misery. I challenge you to let rumors go in one ear and out the other, at the risk of entering the rumor mill isolation zone.
Smile, nod and let your happiness show in your actions. Much harder said than done for sure. A little less conversation a little more action can go a long way.