A lot of people may be under the impression that it’s not okay to have a bad day. We live in this world where the idea of a bad day is uncomfortable, it’s usually our automatic reaction to try to change negative circumstances. If we have a bad day we have to work against it in every possible way to change the day. We fret over it, mope over it and analyze every aspect of this bad day. But the truth is, one of the best ways to handle a bad day is to accept it and not try to change it. It’s okay to have a bad day. It’s okay to have 2 bad days in a row. It’s okay!
I recently went through 2 months of having only good days. It was incredible but as my good day streak continued I got progressively nervous. There must be a bad day coming. My good day streak suddenly ended and I had a bad day. I was late, tired, stressed, overworked, not feeling positive. And I spent the entire morning stressing about this bad day. I decided in the afternoon to just accept my day for what it was, to acknowledge yes it was bad but not focus so much energy on changing it. Immediately a lot of my stress melted away and the day became easier. I realized the best way to handle a bad day is to just accept the circumstances. I repeat to myself “this is how I’m feeling and that’s okay”. That’s it. Another time I was upset about one individual issue and it was bringing my whole day down, thats when I remembered the 15 minute rule. My mom introduced the 15 minute rule to me when I was little, I could rant about anything on a bad day for 15 minutes. I was allowed to speak endlessly for that 15 minutes but once it was done, I wasn’t allowed to talk about it anymore.
Next time you have a bad day try the 15 minute rule and/or accepting the bad day. Say to yourself: I’m having a bad day and that’s okay. Don’t focus on trying to change it or analyze it, let it be. You can feel it: cry, yell and then do other things. It’s okay to have a bad day, it makes us fully appreciate our good days. And when you go to bed at night, hopefully after a hot shower, with a cup of tea and in clean sheets I hope you think to yourself, today was a bad day, tomorrow is a new day and in that there is so much potential.