I woke up this morning and decided to be happy for two hours straight, scheduled a 15 minute break to be sad and then prepared to be bored for the rest of the day.

Even if that’s obviously not how moods work, I’m surprised that some people think you can just pick a mood to stay in all day. Someone’s mood isn’t something they planned for…it just happens. 

Moods are always subject to change, especially as your day goes on. If you got a bad grade on a test that might dampen your mood. If you watched a really good movie, that might uplift your mood. Those are all natural and understandable reactions to have. Even the people you speak to, things you do and don’t do can influence your mood without you ever realizing it. If something ruins your mood, chances are something else could fix it by noon.

So let’s not categorize people by their moods. If someone’s generally calm, let’s not count it out of character for them to be sad or annoyed. Moods aren’t personality traits. Similarly, why are teenagers depicted as the “moody” ones in movies? It’s misleading and sets the example that only teenagers experience mood changes, when in reality, everyone does.

Just like memories are a collection of events, moods are made of dozens of feelings. It’s really common to label your entire day as “good” or “bad”  based on one mood but that doesn’t mean you consistently felt like that the whole day. It’s really hard to label a day, let alone a person, by a single mood.

Of course, someone’s mood doesn’t necessarily excuse their actions. Just because you’re feeling annoyed doesn’t give you the right to lash out at someone else. It’s better to take a moment to figure out why instead of simply blaming it on your mood. And like the saying “happiness is contagious” goes, moods are like colds that can easily be cured, worsened or spread to others.