How to fix a no good, rotten, bad day when everything totally sucks
Your alarm goes off at 6 am, you peek at it and wonder how is it even time to get up already, didn’t I just go to sleep?
In the process of turning your alarm off you spill your water all over your night stand. Shit, shit, shit.
You clean it up, hop in the shower where the water takes forever to warm up. You drop the soap, then the razor. Because your hands are so slippery from the soap, you drop the razor exactly ninety times.
You grab the conditioner first instead of the shampoo…grrr. Rinse it out, grab the right bottle, shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse – and get on with your morning.
Off to the kitchen to make your healthy breakfast smoothie – you put in the spinach, the banana, the extra flax seed (cause it’s the kind of day that calls for extra flax), turn it on. CRAP! You left the lid off and there’s smoothie all over your kitchen.
The kids just woke up and have bigfooted their way into the living room, are fighting over what show to watch on television and whining over their breakfast options - cereal, waffles or a bagel.
“But I want scrambled eggs and bacon ...WAHHHHH!”
In your head you’re thinking, I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!
But you keep your cool.
The ability to keep your cool is an act of willpower akin to taking water from a well. The more water you use up throughout the day, means you’re going to be using dry shampoo tonight.
You can’t pour from an empty cup.
So what do you do? You’ve been awake for 20 minutes and you’re thinking about how your day totally sucks already.
Thankfully you get out the door fairly easily because you’ve read this and started putting some of these into practice already.
…
At work, you get some feedback on a report you spent the last two Saturdays working on. No one likes it, they identified a bunch of gaps you didn’t address. It needs A LOT of work.
You check your personal email – it’s an email from the school with the subject, “Lice epidemic – school is closed at 9 am, come get your kids.”
Ugh, could this day get any worse? You wonder.
Yes, yes it can. You have no idea.
...
If you’re following along, and this sounds like a day you’ve had recently – what happens next? Do you discover you forgot to pack a lunch? Do you get a speeding ticket on your way home? Have to call three people to pick up your kids from school before you finally (and so gratefully) find someone? (True story). I just want this day to be over already!
Yes, you could go to bed right now, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200.
You also have all the control in the world to fix what you’re calling, a “bad day.”
You can’t control what happens to you in the course of your day, but what you can control is your reaction to what’s happening.
The best way to fix a crapola kind of day:
One step. Because minimalism.
When you’re in a good mood (or even in a bad one), make a list of all the things that make you happy. Don’t hold back. You can come up with at least 10. If you can come up with 100, even better. Think: chocolate, watching Dirty Dancing, lighting a candle, journaling, yoga, running, taking a nap, reading a book, hugs, kisses, etc.
When you find yourself in a no good day – bust out your feel good list and pick something. Chances are, just looking at the list is going to make you feel better.
