Have you ever had one of those horrible weeks where so many things go wrong?

Sometimes, Life Just Happens

I’m not going to say that everything has gone wrong this week, but it has been just one thing after another.

For example, I thought I was getting a tax refund.

But nope, I have to pay taxes.

That’s a huge loss that I wasn’t expecting.

I went out to get in my car—and my battery was dead.

So I had to get a new battery.

And to make my day that much more enjoyable, no less than seven sales people knocked on my door asking if I needed help with a new roof.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the hurricane and I thought it was safe to take the sign down saying I already had a roofer.

But it looks like I need to put that sign back up and leave it there.

Then, to top off the end of this fabulous day, I just burned dinner, which is marinara sauce.

How do you burn marinara sauce?

Well, you forget that it’s on the stove, and you burn it.

Do you know the movie with Jennifer Garner, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

Well, some days, I feel like I’m living it.

The Poor Me Complex

Trust me, I know that there are others who are having much harder days than mine.

There are so many more things that could go wrong.

And I am very thankful that not all of them are going wrong.

But when things do go wrong, all too often, I get sucked into that negativity.

If we were to be honest with ourselves, I would bet that many of us get caught up in that negativity cycle when unexpected things interrupt our day.

And sadly, one negative thought after another leads us to start having the poor me complex.

We start thinking things like: “Why is this happening to me?” or “What else can possibly go wrong?” or “Bad things just keep happening to me.”

That’s where I was at today.

I kept thinking, “Oh my gosh, what else? What else?”

And guess what happened when I asked that question?

I burnt dinner!

That’s what happens when we get into that poor me complex.

It’s a negative mindset that just keeps on spiraling downward, and it takes you nowhere fast.

Turn That Frown Upside Down

After burning dinner, I realized that I am the problem in this scenario.

The truth is, life is messy, and sometimes days are horrible.

But it’s how we react to those things that can make or break us.

I can either face every challenge with a frown on my face, or I can choose to face it with a smile.

So, I’m changing my tune.

I’m telling myself that I’m done with being a negative Nancy.

I’m going to stop being negative and focus on being a positive Patty instead.

Let’s see if my new way of thinking can turn things around for me. I’m pretty sure it will.

I mean, I’m still going to have to pay taxes. That’s how life works.

I still had to buy a new battery. That’s how life works.

I’m still going to have to make dinner. But luckily I have all the ingredients to make the same dinner again—so that’s what I’m doing.

It is what it is, and life will go on whether I burn the marinara sauce or not.

So, I might as well do it with a smile and laugh at my mistakes along the way.

It’s Okay to Be Frustrated

Despite how horrible my day has gone, I look around me and think how fortunate I am.

These things aren’t really challenges—there are things that could be way worse.

For instance, there are many people who lost everything because of the last hurricane, but I still have a stove to cook on.

And tomorrow, something else could come that could be truly devastating.

But in this moment, I am appreciating the fact that I am in a situation where I can still move forward.

It doesn’t mean that today hasn’t been frustrating. And it doesn’t mean that my problems aren’t valid.

When we have a problem, no matter what it is, it’s a real problem, and our feelings are valid.

Sluffing it off as nothing because it doesn’t compare to someone else’s struggle isn’t being fair to yourself.

We need to address our problems and allow ourselves to feel the frustration that comes from those challenges.

But we can’t live there. We have to eventually let it go so that we don’t get stuck in those negative feelings.

So, today might not be the best day for me. I might finish doing my work and then maybe watch a mindless television show to help me let things go.

In other words, I’m going to allow myself to be frustrated, take a much-needed break, and then tell myself to get over it.

Because the reality is that it’s all fixable.

Give Gratitude and Grace

Too many times we focus so much on the negativity that we dig ourselves a whole that we can’t see a way out of.

But there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and there’s always something positive around the corner.

The best way I’ve found to get unstuck from negative emotions is to simply be grateful for what we have and to give ourselves grace.

There are so many things happening in our lives on a regular basis. And we can go down that rabbit hole of being negative about everything.

Every time something unexpected happens, we can feel sorry for ourselves because things aren’t going the way we think they should, or we can just let it go, be grateful, and give ourselves grace.

When we are able to focus on what we’re grateful for, it makes all the other things much easier to manage.

You Have Control

You may think that you have no control over what happens to you, and that is true.

But you still have control of you.

The fallout from those unexpected things are still going to be there tomorrow. But it only affects us in a negative way today if we allow it to.

We have control of our thoughts.

We have control of our actions.

And we have control of our words.

If we allow our negative thoughts to control our actions and our words, then we are going to continue to struggle in a never-ending cycle of negativity.

So, keep your chin up, focus on the positive, and get rid of the negative.

You may think that this is easier to say but harder to do, and you may be right.

But in reality, you do have the control—it’s up to you.

When we have those terrible, horrible days or weeks or months, we get to choose how we react to them.

We can stomp our feet, grit our teeth, and say, “This is horrible! I can’t do anything to fix it!”

Or we can remind ourselves that we are in control. And we can get to work determining our next right step.

So that’s my goal for tomorrow.

I’m going to figure out what to do next.

And I’m going to do it with a smile.