INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Surround yourself with people whom you admire and enjoy being near. Be with happy people that naturally maintain a positive attitude. Especially if you are struggling yourself, make an effort to stay away from people who tend to be pessimistic or critical. Instead, be with people who laugh easily, smile frequently, and make you feel good. Spend quality time with people in ways that allow for real relationship building. Instead of TV nights, make a game night, or instead of going to a movie, go hiking together. Choose activities that allow you to make great memories together and enjoy each other's company. Stay in touch with those you care about. The tension and overwhelm from life's difficulties can often be too much for one person to handle. A therapist can help you gain a different perspective and cope more effectively while in the midst of a crisis, helping you changing your life for the better. Therapy allows you to explore yourself and grow. For more information, check out How to Choose a Therapist. Once you are receiving some support through family, friends, and/or a therapist, you may begin to feel that a positive future is possible and within your means. Maybe you can't magically "solve" everything, but you may be able to take steps to help alleviate some of the problems you're experiencing. If you're feeling overwhelmed with work, school and family, consider taking a day off to sort through your life. If you feel emotionally fragile, take some time for yourself to sort things out. Problem solving means lessening the distance between your desired state and your current state. You can't make your problems disappear, but you can minimize them. Totally buried in junk in your house but too tired or busy to deal with it? Hire some help. Find a way to give each task a 'due date', and do each one in order. For more tips on how to problem solve, check out How to Solve a Problem. Find the light at the end of the tunnel by creating it. Imagine yourself several years from now, when your current situation is a distant memory. What does your typical Tuesday look like? What are you doing, and who do you see in your life? Where do you live? What kind of job do you have? What are you doing for your enjoyment? Now that you have that future image of yourself, take steps to make it a reality. If you see yourself in a different career, start taking the steps to make that happen. Go back to school or start to gain new skills. Nothing is beyond your abilities, and it's never too late to start something new if it means you're living your happiness. You don't need loads of money or nice things to be rich. Happiness is most often found in the small things, or the moments when you "stop and smell the roses." When you feel like your spirit is down, it's an especially good time to find happiness in the small things: a sale at the grocery store, an especially delicious cookie, or a bright sunny day. Allow yourself to smile at anything that stands out to you. Think about the things in your life that bring you joy (playing with your kids, volunteering, playing badminton) and determine to do more what brings happiness. Play with your dog, dance around in your room, sing at the top of your lungs in the car. Adding happiness to your life can also mean taking unhappiness out. This can include staying away from people who upset you, destroying your credit card, learning to cook so you can avoid junk food, no longer watching TV or reading the news, and so on. Positive thinking helps you to live a happy, more stress-free life. This means looking for the good behind the bad and being grateful for the things that are going right in your life. You may be very critical about restaurants, manners or movies, but don't allow yourself to bring this attitude to all aspects of your life. Don't allow yourself to polarize your thinking when you see elements of your life as "all good" or "all bad". Remember that almost every situation has shades of gray and very few things exist in black and white. if you find yourself blaming yourself for losing your job or being in a difficult financial situation, remember that lots of factors influence an outcome. And no, you are never a total failure. If you catch yourself having bleak or critical thoughts, stop yourself and decide whether you want to create a new one or replace it with another one. You can replace your moaning about the terrible weather by a reflection about the necessity of water for the plants and the soothing thought that it doesn't rain every day." Make taking regular breaks a priority and part of your lifestyle. This can be a weekend getaway or an afternoon hike into the mountains. If you feel bound by time, take a mental break by distracting yourself from your problems with a simple book. Taking a break or finding distractions doesn't mean running away from your problems. Find activities you enjoy and go do them! This can also include taking a bath, keeping a journal or playing music. One break isn't going to do too much you need to make finding time for self-care and enjoyment a habit of everyday life. This will help you to continue and move forward, even when things are tough. The term "fake it 'til you make it" can apply in many situations, even when you're feeling hopeless. If in your mind you think things can only worse, don't be surprised if that happens. Don't allow a bad self-fulfilling prophecy to creep in and ruin your day; instead, train your mind to experience success and happiness as if you were living them now. The more you believe you are capable, the more capable you will be. Expect that all will work out well. Think of a good self-fulfilling prophecy, such as there's no way you could mess anything up or that the situation will work out for your benefit.

SUMMARY: Stay connected. Engage in therapy. Find solutions. Make plans for the life you want to have. Add happiness to your life. Be optimist. Take breaks. Fake it.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Because acid dyes don't have other types of dyes mixed into them (like an all-purpose dye does), the color you'll get at the end of the dyeing process will closely match the color you chose. Depending on what color of dye you want, you may need to special order it online from a dye company. The exception to the rule about color-matching is if you were to try and mix together 2 different shades of acid dyes. Each dye has multiple pigments that could mix with pigments from another dye and change the outcome of the color to be different than expected; the results might be slight but it also could be dramatic. If you want to do this, test the mixed dyes on a piece of scrap nylon first. All-purpose dyes can be found at most craft and grocery stores, making them great options for times when you don't want to wait for a special order to come in. The color of your nylon might be slightly different than what's on the box because all-purpose dyes include 2 types of dye: a direct dye for cotton and a leveling-acid dye for wool/nylon. Only the leveling-acid dye will affect your nylon. While the color won't be exact, it will still be very close to what's on the box or label. Just keep in mind that there might be a slight difference, especially if you're trying to match your nylon to the color of something else (like a pair of pantyhose with your favorite red lipstick). Apart from the basic colors you might get in something like an egg-dyeing kit, there are tons of other colors available at craft stores, grocery stores, and online. You'll need about 10 drops of food coloring for each item you want to dye unless they exceed 1 pound (use fewer drops for a lighter color or more drops for a more vibrant shade). You could also use natural food extracts, like beet extract for red dye, turmeric for yellow dye, and spinach juice for green dye. Ideally, use a powdered drink mix that is completely free of sugar and sugar-substitutes; otherwise, the nylon will turn into a gunky mess. Plan on using 1 packet of drink mix for each item under 1 pound that you want to dye. The great thing about using a drink mix on nylon is that the color won't wash out when you clean it like it would if you used it on cotton.

SUMMARY:
Use an acid dye to get a color that closely matches that of the packet. Choose an all-purpose dye for an easy-to-find dyeing option. Opt for food coloring for a wide array of colors to choose from. Pick an unsweetened powdered drink mix for an inexpensive option.