The Definitive Guide to Getting Through a Bad Day

We all have bad days. Having tools to get through them effectively and even learning from them will make your life a whole lot easier!

Stop fighting the feeling

You know what can make a bad day worse? Fighting the feeling of stress, overwhelm and frustration. It’s a vicious cycle; you’re already stressed and frustrated and you feel so stressed and frustrated about being stressed and frustrated, that you end up creating more of that for yourself. What can you do? Let yourself feel what you’re feeling.

Give yourself a 5 minute window to feel them and then discard them. Let yourself fully be stressed and overwhelmed for just five minutes, that’s it, that’s all you get. After that time is up, that’s when you start thinking of solutions.

This part may be easier said than done, but this is when you’ll start thinking more rationally about what it is that is making you have a bad day. You may not be fully in control of the situation you’re in, but you may be in control of smaller aspects of it and you’re definitely in control of your attitude about it, so find what you can change about your situation and actively work on that.

 

Breathe

Sometimes we can make a bad day worse by inflating whatever bad thing happened. We dramatize them, make them seem bigger in our heads than they actually are because we’re seeing them through the looking glass of our feelings. Though it’s hard to keep from doing that when you’re in the moment, you can bounce back quicker by just being aware of it and working on looking at the problem as objectively as you can.

Breathe! Taking some time to sit down and reflect can help put things in perspective and help you see the real ‘size’ of your bad day.
Whenever you start feeling overwhelmed and stressed, take a few minutes to breathe deeply; count to 5 while inhaling, then count to 5 while exhaling and repeat it a few times until you start feeling your shoulders relaxing and your muscles stop tensing up.

 

Get out of your stressful situation

Leave the physical space where you’re feeling overwhelmed and if you can, go to a place that inspires calm and peace for you. Sometimes getting out is all you need to start feeling better.

If you can’t really leave, try at least stepping outside for a few minutes and getting some fresh air.

Having a #badday? Here's how to gain back control and turn it around. Click To Tweet

 

Do something that takes your mind off of the bad stuff

This one’s kind of obvious, but going out and doing something you enjoy can instantly bring a smile to your face and wipe the stress and frustration right out of you. Whether you want to call your best friend, do some crafting, play a game on your phone or watch videos of cute kittens, go and do that!

Sometimes when we get too far down the rabbit hole of negative thinking, those thoughts start taking over our rational thinking abilities and it’s important to just drop all those thoughts and get our mind focused on something else before we start buying into the crazy talk. Does that make sense?
Negative thinking can cloud our judgment and makes it hard to make rational decisions. Distracting yourself for a while can give your mind a bit of a breather so you come back to the situation with a clearer head. This may not solve your problem, but it will give you the chance to solve it in a much more calm manner.

 

Thank your bad day

Yup. You should always be thankful for your bad days, not just because they make you even more thankful for your good days, but also because bad days bring breakthroughs, they bring lessons, they show you what you’re made of and they are the biggest contributors to your personal growth.

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You’ve survived 100% of your bad days so far, so that’s pretty damn good. Give yourself some credit and keep moving forward.
The bad days are NOT what breaks you; they’re what MAKES you!

 

Find the lesson

Bad days are like a really poorly packaged gift that looks like it’s gone through the ringer (is that how that saying goes?) but when you look past the horrible wrap job, you get to keep an actually pretty useful gift. It’s hard sometimes to find the energy to look past the crap that happened and search for the lesson in the day, but it’s the key to getting back your control and kicking that day’s butt!

 

Move on

The most important thing to do on a bad day is to leave it behind and not bring it with you into the next day.

It can be tempting to want to keep thinking about it and worrying about what happened the day before, but give it your best effort to put that day in the past. Whatever happened can’t be undone, but you’re in control of the present moment and you’re in control of your feelings and attitude. Use that to your advantage and let it empower you!

 

I’ve got a question for you, what steps do you usually take to get through a particularly crappy day? Do you take a bubble bath or listen to music? Do you drive around? Talk to a friend? Let me know below!

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Loyally,