How to Embrace a Bad Day
Ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Here's how to embrace a bad day and move forward.
I woke up yesterday in a “mood.”
The moment I opened my eyes, things felt off. I had a headache. My energy was low. I had an overall sense of blah.
Anyone else ever wake up like this?
Rooting out the Bad Mood
I immediately went through a checklist to determine the cause of my bad mood.
Am I reacting to any bad news from the week? No, I really hadn’t received any troubling information recently.
Did I eat something that my body might be rejecting? Nope, I had been consuming my normal healthy fare – nothing new.
Is my body tired from a new workout? Actually, my body didn’t feel sore, but I just didn’t have much energy.
Did I drink enough water this week? I was a water-drinking champ every day.
Rationalization
I tried to rationalize my way out of my bad mood.
There’s no reason to be in a bad mood.
Nothing bad has happened.
I’ve been eating well, drinking water, and getting good sleep.
I reviewed my article on 5 ways to quickly get unstuck. It didn’t feel applicable because I didn’t feel stuck. I just felt down.
Like an adult with responsibilities, I picked up my dragging butt and started my daily routine. I tried to practice what I preach like in my 5 things to do every day to be happy article by moving, nourishing, and connecting. Everything just felt like I was phoning it in. My mind wasn’t into it and my heart wasn’t even in the building.
Pushing
So I pushed.
I pushed my way into thinking I was not going to have a sucky day.
I pushed myself to believe there was no reason at all for my bad mood.
I pushed myself into going through my day as usual and hoping the mood would fall in step. But it didn’t.
The work I was trying to do was uninspiring. I was reading the same lines five times and it still wasn’t sticking.
The more I pushed, the suckier my day and mood got.
Getting Mad
Then I got mad at myself. “Snap out of it! There’s nothing wrong. Get with the program. I have work to do.”
Ever had that moment?
Ever talk to yourself like that?
I highly recommend avoiding that talk for you, or anyone you know.
No one wants to feel sucky, and yelling at them or yourself definitely doesn’t help. Believe me, I tried.
It was around 3 pm when I had the above talk with myself.
And it was at 3:01 that I finally decided to change course on my bad mood.
Changing Course for a Better Day
Hopefully, you can make this realization before 3 pm on your sucky day.
Regardless of when you “come to,” there are some better ways of coping with a bad mood.
If you’ve already gone through the checklist to get unstuck and reviewed the practices for a happy and productive day, I’d recommend one other, very important tactic: learn to embrace a bad day.
Embracing Your Sucky Day
Yes embracing my sucky day was the last thing I wanted to do.
I did everything but embrace it for more than 8 hours.
I denied it, rationalized it, got angry at it, but embrace it, no thank you.
What you resist persists, so I finally decided to embrace my bad day.
I stopped trying to perform at superstar level when my energy didn’t match.
I stopped trying to feel something I wasn’t.
I stopped beating myself up that I wasn’t on my game.
Instead, I started feeling into the suck.
I felt the low energy.
I felt the disappointment.
I identified where these emotions were lodged in my body.
Then I took several long inhales and sent my exhales to these tight locations to loosen up.
Acknowledging these feelings made them slowly lose their hold on me.
I released the angst and discrepancy of how I was feeling versus how I wanted to feel.
When I let go of needing things to look a certain way, I became much more relaxed.
I stepped away from my computer and work.
Let’s face it, the work I was turning out wasn’t that good anyway. It was also feeding my frustration.
I opened an uplifting book. I watched some bad TV. I gave myself permission to relax, unplug, and feel.
My day ended with a teary meditation that left me feeling spent, but peaceful.
I slept hard. In the morning, my eyes popped open before my alarm. I woke up renewed. I felt invigorated.
I was happy I had given myself some time to be exactly where I was.
Embracing my bad mood was the only thing that helped break it up.
Know That There Are Highs and Lows
Many of us are on an eternal quest for happiness. That’s not a bad quest to be on, as long as we can acknowledge that there are still going to be some high and lows involved.
If you don’t experience sadness, how will you know happiness?
How can you know you’re on a high if you don’t ever have a low?
The contrast in emotions allows you to see the differences.
It also allows you to appreciate the effort and work that go into building something that brings you happiness.
So next time you’re experiencing a low in life, try and embrace it.
Know it won’t be forever and the next upward swing will be even sweeter.
How do you get over a sucky day?