“Everyone can have a bad day.” ~ Nikki Haley

We all have bad days in our own way. Instead of letting those negative feelings fester to become a self-fulfilling prophecy for continuing bad stuff, it is possible to take control of a bad day and turn it into something positive. Here’s how it can be done.

10 Ways to Turn a Bad Day Around:

1. Give yourself 5 minutes to breathe.

This is essentially you pressing the restart button for your brain. By turning your systems off and then turning them back on again, you’ll be able to address the situations you’re about to face with a different perspective. Get somewhere quiet, take some deep breaths for about 5 minutes, and give yourself a chance to purge the negative feelings.

2. Do something you always enjoy.

The things we love the most create positive feelings. It could be a conversation with a friend, a quick road trip to pick up a favorite snack, or something at home like camping out in front of a favorite movie like Operation Petticoat while snuggling with your cat. Whatever it is that you enjoy, do it when you’re having a bad day. The positive energy from your favorite things will give you some extra energy to defeat the festering negative energy that the bad day may be causing.

3. Take a social media break.

When we are on our favorite social media sites, what we’re actually doing on a subconscious level is comparing ourselves to our family and friends. Since most of us put only our best moments on Facebook and similar sites, it’s easy to feel inadequate. Unimportant. Worthless. If a bad day has come along, then unplug from the internet as much as you can. You’ll find that it will become a lot easier to put a positive foot forward when you do.

4. Listen to what your mother has to say.

Mother Nature is talking to your soul every day. She is telling you to take that hike in the woods behind your place. She wants you to stand barefoot in that patch of grass that is outside your office window. Listen to what she has to say, enjoy the sunshine, and the energy stimulation you’ll receive can help to boost your happiness levels enough to turn around even the worst of bad days.

5. Acknowledge how content you really are.

Negative energy makes you focus on the darkness that is around you. It makes you feel like you can’t get that promotion. It says that you’re not good enough. It’s also a bunch of lies. When you’re having a bad day, it is important to remember how content you really are in life. Put your gratefulness into writing and your willingness to be able to counter the negativity will be much greater. This is because you’re forcing the positive things to the front of your mind and this stops you from staying focused on the negative events of the day.

6. Ask for a hug.

Human touch has some miraculous healing powers to stop a bad day cold in its tracks. Even a hug from a stranger can work wonders – though most folks aren’t just going to walk up to some random person and say “Hug me.” You can, however, ask your significant other, a close friend, or even your child for a hug and that can make everything better in just seconds.

7. Eliminate the negative self-talk.

Negative self-talk is something that can be incredibly damaging, but much of the time it isn’t even given a second thought. You do it automatically when failure occurs. You might even attempt to justify this negativity as a motivational method. On a bad day, this negativity is like putting gasoline on a raging bonfire. Instead of focusing on the failure that just happened, try to create a plan so that the failure doesn’t have to be repeated.

8. Pray, meditate, or go take a hot shower. 

We all have different ways of processing difficult information. Prayer, meditation, or the relaxing needles of a hot shower all help the mind begin to overcome the negative emotions that a bad day can cause. It’s about changing your mindset about the experiences that have been happening to you so that you can grow stronger from these events.

9. Focus on your to-do checklist.

The satisfaction of completing a to-do checklist cannot be overstated. When you get a lot of stuff done during the day, it feels great. You might even feel like going out to celebrate that fact. A bad day might try to hold you back, but as you check chores off of your to-do list, each check brings with it a certain amount of success. The positive energy from each success can then fuel more success. By the time your checklist is completed, you’ll forget that you were having a bad day.

10. Go color a picture.

Coloring a picture helps to fuel the creativity you naturally have. As this energy flows from your mind to your hands, your focus changes to the project instead of the events of the day. If coloring isn’t for you, try writing. Give painting a try. Play the guitar. Make a scrapbook. The creative options here are endless and you’ll find that giving this part of your life some love can make all the difference in the world.

Bad days can happen at any time.

Instead of letting them control you, it’s important for you to take control of that bad day.

These tips are a great place to get started on that process.

And what about you? How do you cope with bad days? You can share your comment by joining the conversation in the comment section below 🙂

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