29 Easy Ways To Brighten Your Day

1. Take a more scenic route home and stop to watch children play in the playground for a few minutes.

2. Get a hot drink and linger over it a little longer than you actually would — order it extra hot, even, so that it can stay perfect and warming for longer.

3. Buy a bottle of hand lotion that smells nice and will keep your poor skin from getting all cracked and dry and sad as the temperature drops.

4. Pick up some flowers on the way home to put in a vase. (I know that many will say that buying flowers is an indefensible waste of money, but they truly do make your whole day better and more beautiful.)

5. Send someone else flowers unexpectedly and know that their day is automatically going to become the best day ever.

6. Make yourself a new recipe from scratch, even if it takes you upwards of an hour.

7. Light a bunch of candles (though not too many scented ones, unless you want to feel like you’re being strangled by a pillowcase full of potpourri).

8. Get dinner at your favorite restaurant, and don’t think about how many calories are in the dish you want most. Just get it.

9. Go see a movie by yourself, fully enjoying being able to hog the popcorn and cry without embarrassment during the sad parts.

10. Take a long bath with a glass of wine. (Have you ever gotten semi-drunk whilst marinating in hot water? It’s kind of the greatest thing ever.)

11. Failing that (and if classiness isn’t a priority), have a shower beer.

12. Watch a movie that you recall really, really liking, but which you haven’t seen in years.

13. Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in forever and just ask them a bunch of stuff about their life since you last talked.

14. Send a postcard unexpectedly to someone.

15. Sit in a coffee shop and write about whatever you have been thinking that day, even if it’s just a blog post about the Greek yogurt and granola you had for breakfast. Make it the best blog post ever.

16. Make one of those fancy cocktails that includes ingredients such as “bitters” and “cucumber.” Feel like a grown-up while you enjoy your drink.

17. Listen to big band/crooners and sing along with Dean Martin.

18. Invite someone over to come and help you make some food, trying something that you may never have had but they really like.

19. Go out to happy hour with a few of your friends after work for buffalo wings and beer, and don’t look at your watch every five minutes to find out when you should be getting home.

20. Make a nice, big pot of tea in the afternoon with a few squeezes of lemon.

21. Try walking at least a few subway stops to feel more invigorated and get in a little exercise without having to feel like it’s a chore you have to make time for.

22. Watch a few episodes of your favorite trashy reality show while you chill out in bed.

23. Pay for a stranger’s drink while out at the bar and watch their faith in humanity be restored before your eyes.

24. Make silly faces with the baby in front of you in line at the grocery store and see if you can make him or her laugh.

25. Heat up some apple juice with cinnamon, clove (and possibly a splash of bourbon), then cuddle up by a window with a blanket and enjoy.

26. Make a fresh smoothie with your favorite fruits and yogurt.

27. Leave work half an hour early to go do something you’ve really been meaning to do all week.

28. Buy yourself an inexpensive little trinket (like warm, fluffy socks) that don’t cut into your budget but make you feel special.

29. Turn off your social media for a while and read a book, letting yourself get lost in the story and forget about why your day was going so badly in the first place.