My “Moody?” Checklist

Over my life I’ve been keenly observing my mood shifts and now that I’m in a reasonably calm and stable environment I thought it might be interesting to write down a checklist of sorts, but post it here publicly, for moments when I get moody meaning that some need isn’t met, because the list is admittedly growing too large to keep within my own brain.

The way that I’d be using it is that if I’m feeling down or moody, it usually means some kind of need isn’t met, so the checklist below helps remind me what it could be.

Food/Drink

Food/Drink	Specifics/Preferences	How often? and other notes
Water (flavoured)	Flavourings: Pepsi Max Vanilla, Ginger Beer	Generally aim for around 2L (two 1L drink bottles worth) a day. If I’ve forgotten to drink from the current bottle it means the flavouring doesn’t work for me.
Sweet food	Mint chocolate ice cream, grapes	Roughly two times a week minimum
Sweet drinks	Ginger beer, Coke/Pepsi,	Roughly two times a week minimum
Main meals	White rice + brown rice + chickpeas mix base. Protein heavy is fine e.g. steak + eggs. Supplement with protein balls.	Too much white rice/carbs results in carb bloat. Avoid carbs for dinner. Usually try to do 14 hour fast between 6pm-8am.
Caffeine	Coffee, Earthrise, Yerba Mate	As of writing I usually have one coffee + 2 Yerba mate pills in the morning, and one Earthrise + Asian coffee satchet at lunch to get myself through the afternoon. Sometimes doesn’t work and makes me sleepy instead. Further investigation required

Entertainment

Activity	Notes
Knitting/Crochet	Project has to be interesting enough, can do while watching TV/anime/streams.
PC Games	Needs to be a long engrossing story-driven game that requires full concentration, and is not worth playing while listening to a stream at the same time. Steam Deck seems to be a very good solution to isolating myself from distractions.
Reading	Physical books need to be readily available. A book should always be ‘open’ on whatever reader app I’m using for quick access. Need to be sufficiently isolated from distractions.
Music	Two general approaches: 1. Listen to music that emphasises with the mood I’m feeling. 2. Listen to music that I find uplifting, or sung by someone I like to listen to. e.g. VTuber karaokes by Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame

Physical/Mental Hygiene

Activity	Notes
Brush teeth	Two times a day. Usually once after breakfast, and once before bed.
Shower	Once a day. As of writing, usually before/after dinner.
Sleep	Generally need 8 hours. If lacking sleep, usually need to supplement with afternoon nap.
Cabin fever	Usually if I haven’t left the house in two days then cabin fever hits on the 3rd day.
Over-stimulation	Leaving the house is exhausting. If I’ve been out for more than 3 days in a row (even for work) then I’m likely to crap out very quickly. Ideal balance is two days going out, 3rd day in/WFH.
Social interaction/talking	Basically if I haven’t yapped enough to someone for 3-4 days I get a cabin-fever-esque feeling. If social interaction is not possible, then need to stream and talk to the void.