When you experience bad days…
We all go through good days, and bad days. When we are going through bad days, it can be challenging in so many ways- things feel chaotic, we can’t think clearly, we struggle to get things done, we feel overwhelmed, frustrated, stressed and many other emotions that don’t feel so great.
When we experience bad days, dealing with them seems like a steep challenge. As challenging as it seems, it is definitely possible to overcome them and come out stronger. In fact, in doing so, we discover a lot about ourself and our abilities, find our resilience, and learn about ways to get stronger and better.
This article looks 3 simple, yet effective strategies that you can follow when you are having a bad day. You may have practiced them time and again, however the idea is to put these together to help you find the means to navigate through days that feel like a struggle. I trust that you find this insightful and valuable.
1. Acknowledge
Sometimes, an important step in dealing with a bad day is to acknowledge that you are going through one. That things are not quite how they should be. That you may not be feeling great about yourself. If you are struggling for answers, it’s ok to acknowledge that too. It’s ok to feel stuck, and it’s important you remind yourself of that.
The acknowledgement of your challenges is the first step in addressing them. When you do so, you are truly able to focus on turning things around as you come to terms with your reality. By not acknowledging what you are going through, you often run the risk of staying in denial, and may not completely appreciate your challenges and what you are up against.
Remember, it’s ok to not be ok. When you acknowledge that, you take a lot of pressure off yourself and do yourself a great service.
2. Take a break
When we go through a bad day, invariably, one thing leads to another. You go from one challenging situation to the next. And that often opens up a vicious cycle- you don’t feel great about yourself. And with that mindset, you look at solving a problem. When things don’t come off, you feel worse and question yourself even more. As the pattern goes on, a bad day becomes worse.
What you need is like a circuit breaker to help you snap you out of this vicious cycle. Taking a break, maybe a minute or so can help. This is where you pause what you are doing, maybe step away, have a glass of water, gather your thoughts, re-focus and come back. You may feel the urge to keep going as the break seems to come in your way. However, if you are going nowhere in that state, it may be worth giving yourself a moment to ‘sharpen the saw’.
A mentor once shared with me- “All you need sometimes is a moment to inspire you and overcome your challenges”. When you give yourself a moment, you are better placed to find that inspiration.
3. Complete small wins
When it feels like you are doing it tough, one powerful approach can be to target and complete small wins. How does this help? When you achieve those small wins, you get a sense of momentum. You are, and feel like you are making progress. Things start making more sense, things become clearer to you.
If you are working on big task that may seem overwhelming, it can help if you break it into smaller chunks, that may not be so overwhelming and get you forward. Action gives you clarity, and even through the smallest of actions, you start moving forward, one step at a time.
To summarise…
Dealing with a bad day can be a matter of following the A (Acknowledge)- B(Take a break)- C(Complete small wins). While these are simple, they are also really effective, and help you build your resilience and find your confidence to turn things around.
Ever struggled with a bad day? How about trying out those A-B-C’s?