You know what having a bad day feels like. It’s one of those days when you feel like you have things all together, you’re getting everything done, but then something shows up that causes everything to go off track. Or maybe it’s one of those days where everything seems to go wrong.
Well, between yesterday and today, I’ve experienced those bad days two days in a row.
My Bad Day
Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m really moving forward with things. I’m getting a lot of work done at home and in my business and moving forward with my new book in exciting ways.
Then, yesterday morning, I had my ringer off because I’m a terrible sleeper, only to realize I had missed nine calls from my son. (That’s pretty bad parenting right there.) I quickly called him and learned that he had a flat tire right before he got to school. And instead of stopping, he kept driving on the flat tire.
Hoping that the damage was minimal, we got AAA out there to put on the spare. Then I had to spend my afternoon trying to get the tire fixed. It turned out that it wasn’t just the tire that was damaged; the rim was completely bent and would also need to be fixed.
So, this morning, I had 17 things on my schedule, but first on the list was taking the tire and rim to a place where someone told me he could fix it. Sadly, once the guy saw the tire and rim, he said that it was going to take a lot more than he thought to fix the rim, and the tire wasn’t even fixable. He told us we would need a whole new tire and, wouldn’t you know it, he doesn’t even carry the tire we need. And I had to spend the afternoon figuring out where to go to get a new tire.
Before I even realized what was happening, little things (like fixing a tire) derailed my whole day, causing me to lose the positive momentum I had.
I’m sharing this because I know you’ve probably experienced something similar, and we all can learn something from my bad day. Taking the time to recognize the bad day you’re having, change your mindset, and turn your day around can make all the difference.
What to Do When You’re Having a Bad Day
1. Remember Bad Days Are Temporary
Whatever is happening in your life to take you off track, remember that it’s temporary. Whether it’s something ridiculous like a flat tire or something you’re struggling with in your relationship or your job, setbacks are temporary. They don’t last forever.
This is why we need to take a step back and remind ourselves that this is only temporary. And once we manage the setback, whatever momentum we had before it happened we can easily get back again.
Getting back on track begins with where you place your focus. Rather than focusing on how crappy things are at the moment, determine what it is that you can do now to move forward. Then simply focus on your next right step.
I had so many things scheduled that I could no longer focus on because the tire became an all-encompassing problem that had to be dealt with. So, my next right step was fixing the tire without getting overly frustrated about it—because frustration just adds more hardship to an already challenging situation.
2. Take Deep Breaths
I know it may sound silly, but breathing exercises really can help manage your stress and calm your nervous system. Deep breaths can slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, and increase your oxygen flow.
If you can, practice breathing exercises regularly to teach your body new patterns of relaxation. Over time, it will get easier to respond to difficult situations and find a sense of calm.
3. Control What You Can
While you may not have control over what happens to you, you do have control over you.
You have control of your thoughts, you have control of your actions, and you have control of your words. If you allow your negative thoughts to control your actions and our words, then you are going to continue to struggle in a never-ending cycle of negativity.
Put your creativity hat on and figure out how you can still move forward in your goals while also managing the problem. For example, today, I brought my computer and book with me, so that no matter where I am, I can still get some work done.
4. Brainstorm What To Do Next Time
Hopefully, there won’t be a next time, but if there were, what would you do differently? This will make things easier for you if it ever were to happen again.
There may be nothing you could change. But taking the time to evaluate the situation can still be helpful.
5. Put Things in Perspective
The past two days may have been frustrating for me. But the reality of it all is that these days are only temporary. Tomorrow, the tire will be fixed, and I will be able to move forward. I won’t have to think about it again until the next time it happens.
6. Recognize the “Poor Me” Complex, So You Can Avoid It
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. 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?”
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.
7. 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 I have and to give myself 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.
Your Mindset Matters
Having a bad day is really about our mindset. When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, the story we tell ourselves is important. We can’t let something as silly as a flat tire stop us from moving forward.
The best thing we can do is accept the things we cannot change while cheerfully doing the things we can.
The great thing about a bad day is that it’s just one day (or maybe two). In the weeks and years and decades of days that are ahead of us, one bad day is really small in the whole scheme of things.
Life moves on, and so must we.Thankfully, on those bad days, there is one thing we can be sure of—there will always be a better tomorrow ahead of us.
