5 Secrets of Bad Days

There is a blue sky shinning outside your window, a fresh cup of coffee in your hand, you’re off to a routine day at a job that may not be great but is however great to have, especially in these times of economic instability. There are really no real problems in your life, yet there is this nagging perhaps even intrusive urge to just flip the eff out! If this is you, today or on other days, I first want to congratulate you on being totally, unmistakably and awesomely human. Just like the rest of us, who are however, having a great day! Secondly I am here to offer these secrets of bad days or if you are too disgruntled to appreciate them then at least a momentary distraction from your life that sucks.

# 1 You may just be stunned by monotony. Maybe there really isn’t anything wrong and you are just subconsciously trying to add a little excitement to your dull everyday routine. Perhaps if you think about it you’ll realize you’ve noticed an almost numbing boredom resonating in the back of your mind as you move swiftly and effortlessly through your day-to-day life. Then, just in time to rescue you from another flawless morning, the bad day blues come charging into reality. You start by imagining your hair looks bad, then, you start noticing things you never notice on good days because everything is just going so damn good. You notice your coffee is too hot to drink, your Grapenuts are stale or that your boots have a hole in them. Your running late (probably due to all the extra noticing you’ve been doing) It only takes a few things to really get the wheels turning and then whoosh, off you go in your premeditated boo-hoo-mobile! (Deep down inside you are thrilled however, over how bored you aren’t being.) If you feel this may be the kind of bad day you are having, take control and remedy it with a controlled twist that leaves you feeling excited (but not like, excited to kick in a bathroom stall and then hide sobbing in the corner excited) Do something different to spice things up like go somewhere new for lunch, listen to a comedy routine on your mobile radio account, maybe make it a netflix night when you get home, instead of just dragging your sorry, tired and uninspired ass, in through the door after a long day of work, just like you always do! Reward yourself rather. You deserve it!

#2 Sometimes the harsh and honest truth is, we are just being whiners. Whiners, looking for attention or wallowing in our own self-pity.  Perhaps we just want someone to laugh with or in this particular situation cry with. “Boo-hoo, I’m having a bad day there’s a hole in my boot, please notice me!” What I hate about these kind of bad days is, I usually am a very upbeat energetic and loving person, always excited to put a smile on someone else’s face but when I get stuck in this pity pool that has been filled with my own sad, sorry tears, I am like the person that I wouldn’t even want to try to cheer up. This is a sad and annoying realization but if this is you on a bad day, you just have to fess up and come to terms with it. Only then can you start getting the attention you are really craving.  I hate to sound like a Positive-Patty here, but positive attention is better than negative attention. So slap yourself on the back or in the face depending on how whiney you were being and get ready to get your nice on! What I’ve learned is: people either really like nice or they are totally creeped out by it. But either way I promise you the attention you get will far surpass the attention or avoidance, that sour-puss pout you’ve been pointing at people all day has gotten you.

#3 Sometimes we are just off kilter and can’t seem to get balanced out no matter how ridiculous we know we are being. This is my personal worst bad day. I have had many days like this. They are my least favorite and no amount of chocolate or yelling at the children or episodes of Dexter can cure it. That’s when you have to really just stop and start over. Your whole life, just start over, move to a new town and find a new family, a new dog…No! I mean start over get back to the basics.  The basics are as follows: sleep, food, water, in some cases sex. All those things in the core of your brain that our primitive ancestors learned to thrive over.  Most of the time my bursts of bad behavior are a result in a hormone or nutrition imbalance. So, when I feel like I’m being ridiculous and there is no outside drama causing me to react the way I’m acting, I stop and think is it possible I haven’t been drinking enough water or eating the right food or enough food, or taking my vitamins, have I had time to myself lately, or time with my honey? Sometimes you just have to take a few deep breaths, drink a glass of water and make yourself a PB&J, while you convince yourself you didn’t get enough sleep last night and everything is fine, you are just over sensitive due to your frail condition.

#4 Sometimes we are being resentful and it slowly starts to unravel into the end all to be all. Suddenly! It happens! Some stupid petty thing sneaks into the daily deliveries truck. You find yourself stuck with a frustration that you were in no way prepared for. Maybe your spouse decided to move an entirely large unneeded piece of furniture in without consulting you first and it has pushed you into a passive aggressive piss parade, maybe the disappointment of the loss of an eBay bid on a one of a kind pair of shoes, or an unexpected call from your nagging, self-righteous, control freak, grandmother has opened Pandora’s box of vigorous triggers to all your self-sabotaging habits. You’ll know if this is your secret of a bad day if ten minutes ago you were perfectly fine and now your head is spinning and you want to run as far away from where the spinning started as fast as you possibly can! Everything that  comes out of your mouth is condescending or served with a side of sarcasm and you’ve made it through half a bag of Dove chocolate and are even too peevish to believe all the sweet little notes on the inside of the wrappers like you usually do. In this case it is important to catch on as soon as possible. Otherwise the resentment monster living on your shoulder will send you crashing miserably into everything and everyone you meet all day. Find a quiet place. I suggest locking yourself in your car for a few minutes. Or if you don’t have a car, then lock yourself in the bathroom and pretend it is your car Close your eyes, and imagine the horrible petty thing that happened, it’s all wrapped up in a pretty little brown package. You scoop it up in your loving, logical hands and take a good look at it, accept it fully for what it is and when you are done soaking in its inescapable existence, look up at the sky and say “Universe, this package sucks. I do not like it, but I accept it and will not let it ruin anymore of my day than it already has, because this feeling or situation will eventually pass and then I will have only wasted my time being resentful.” Then if your eyes are still closed take your package and imagine getting out of your car and placing it on the ground behind your car. Then open your eyes, turn the car on, and back in and out of your drive way 5 or 6 times. If the act of the package killing and resentment freeing doesn’t work, see paragraph three-sentences one and two.

#5 The totally awesome life changing event that is disguised as your worst nightmare. We all have expectations in life, even though we are told its best not to. Most of the time we are just expecting the basics, like to make it to work without getting in an accident, or to not be betrayed by our closest friends or family, or we expect to have enough money to cover all our expenses. But then something unforeseen happens and we are immediately panicked or forlorn. Perhaps a F150 smashes into you on the way to work, or a friend or lover betrays your trust, a check bounces or you are injured and stuck with an immense amount of medical debt. All these things could ruin any day. But eventually you will come to terms with it all.. the sooner we do that the better. As hard as it is to see the positive in situations like this, we must try. The best way to do this is to turn to gratitude. You may be thankful that the accident only damaged your car or that injuries did not result in taking your life, you may be thankful to know that you have the choice to choose who is in your life and who isn’t, maybe you are thankful that although it may seem like you do not have enough money at the moment, there are still literally endless possibilities for money and resources to manifest themselves in your life, if you would only acknowledge the possibility and appreciate all that is present, from love and family to a roof over your head and a meal in your tummy. On top of all you have there is always the possibility that this one horrible thing is the stepping stone to an event or an action on your part that will change your life for the better. You may never know but there is no harm in feeling good, even when you are not supposed to!