Laughing My Way Out Of PMS Mood

Early yesterday evening, I felt a little sad and irritated for no apparent reason. My boyfriend and I were planning on checking out a French restaurant in the neighborhood. He was a little late, which didn’t help. All of a sudden, I found myself PMSing. I thought, “Oh no, wasn’t I supposed to ovulate? This just doesn’t make sense.” But I guess you can’t make sense of PMS, can you?

It was a familiar emotional state. By now I recognized it as my “PMS Mood.” It felt as if I’d gotten stuck in a rut and couldn’t pull myself out of it. I tried to contain it before it went wild – it might spoil the entire evening, and even the day after. So I pulled out my PMS toolbox.

“Is this feeling justified?” I said to myself. “Not really, I can’t really be upset about my boyfriend’s being late. He often shows up at around the same time.”

“Do I want to be in this mood? Hell no. I recognize this feeling and I know where it’s going – not a good place.”

“Get out of your mind, and stay connected with your body.” I began to practice deep belly breathing. It did help to calm my mind, to some extent. I thought I had achieved some level of emotional mastery. But now the real test came.

It was hard. It’s always much harder to alter your mood when you’re PMSing. That’s the reality. It’s just something we have to face – and accept.

My boyfriend walked in the door and recognized my PMS mood almost immediately. He walked up to me and gave me a sweet hug. He sat me down, held me, and began to stroke my back, gently. “We don’t have to go anywhere. I can just hold you if you want.”

I felt better instantly, but the mood was still there, still lingering. But my boyfriend has a PMS toolbox full of tricks too, I realized. He picked out another one and began to mimic me – my facial expressions and body language. If he were mocking me, I would certainly be upset. But he did it in a cute and loving way. I knew he was trying hard to make me feel better. I began to laugh.

Laughter is definitely one of the best cures for PMS.

Quickly, my PMS mood vanished. I felt light and happy again.

The moral of the story?

“I’ve learned… that love, not time, heals PMS. I’ve learned… that PMS is tough, but I’m tougher.”

And guys, if you can make your girlfriends laugh, you have the magic wand for curing PMS.