Nothing seems to go quite right. Everyone and everything feels a bit off. Feelings of frustration, resentment, and discomfort rise to the surface. In the middle of it, it’s hard to shake off a bad day.
Earlier this week I had a bad day. It felt unusual and strange as it’s been some time since I had a bad day. All my best practices including blogging about loving life has given me a wonderful gift of mostly great days. (Yes, it’s possible to have a great day almost every day!)
However, even a positive attitude and best life practices don’t banish the occasional bad day. (Maybe that’s even okay. Maybe the bad days make the good days just a little bit better. )
So there I was, having a bad day. I was in a funk. I was getting rubbed the wrong way. A series of situations didn’t go my way but that in itself isn’t so unusual. Nobody really lives a charmed life, do they? Well I don’t anyway. For whatever reason, I was having a bad day.
In the middle of a bad day the best I can do is get through it though of course that’s usually easier said than done. I do have a few ideas to help me get through, and sometimes I can even make a bad day great. If nothing else, I can use these ideas to help me bounce back and have another great day the next day.
How to shake off a bad day
Yep, it’s a bad day, alright.
Everyone has a bad day from time-to-time. Accept having the occasional bad day is part of life. A bad day is just that- a bad day. Don’t judge yourself, your family and friends, your situation, or your life on the basis of one bad day. Avoid feeling more miserable than the situation calls for. Who wants to feel miserable? (If you do then this isn’t the blog for you!)
Enjoy wine, not whine.
Okay, so you had a bad day. The more energy you give to it, the more you focus on everything that went wrong in your day, the more intensely you experience your negative attitude and emotions. Don’t complain– just don’t! Trust me, it’s not going to make your bad day any better, it’ll only make it worse.
Get comfortable.
In the middle of a bad day is not be the right time to make an important decision or have a difficult conversation. Give yourself a break. Save big decisions and confrontations for a different day. This isn’t the best day to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Just for today, allow yourself to be as comfortable as possible, okay?
Give it a rest.
Speaking of giving yourself a break, in the midst of a bad day is a good time to take breaks. Take as many as you need. Even superheroes need to take breaks or they get very cranky and it usually doesn’t end well. Just ask the Hulk.
So just for me, or really for you, take some breaks when you’re having a bad day (and maybe even when you’re not!)
Be the butt of the joke.
In Stranger Than Fiction, one of my favorite movies, the main character Harold makes a list to determine if the story of his life is a comedy or tragedy. When anything awkward or uncomfortable happens, Harold puts a check in the “comedy” category. Even the worst day can be almost comical from the right perspective.
Don’t take life too seriously. Save the drama for life’s real tragedies, because you’ll have those, too.
Start over again tomorrow!
The best thing you can do when you have a bad day is start over again tomorrow. (Or even start over in the middle of your day. You can reboot your day anytime!)
Don’t dwell or linger on what went wrong yesterday. Be ready to have a great day today! Your life is what you make of it, decide to make it the best of it.
Like this post? There’s a lot more where that came from! Click here to check out my book, Beautiful Badass: How to Believe In Yourself Against the Odds!
I love your comments! Have you used any of these tips? If not, which are you going to try the next time you have a bad day? How to you recover when you have a bad day?