How to make a bad day better

It can be done

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

I find that on shitty days, the best thing I can do for myself is try to get out of my head, which—70% of the time—is where all the trouble started in the first place. Even the other 30% of the time, when the source of my bad day is external, this is what helps the most. I can’t say that it’s necessarily the easiest thing to pull off, but doing the following might help.

Accept that these days happen They just do, and it’s really key to acknowledge that, and move on as best you can. The less I spin my wheels about the fact that I’m having a tough time, and the sooner I accept that today is just one of those days, the better I’ll eventually feel. It’s about resetting the bar temporarily, and sometimes, you get to set the bar as low as you need.

Nix the self-loathing It’s so easy to allow ourselves to fall even deeper into a pit of frustration or despair by detailing our own failings to ourselves, and obsessing over the ways in which we’ve disappointed, hurt, or annoyed people we love, or ourselves. Bad days just seem to make all of those feelings worse. I liked this person’s tactic for fighting that, which I read on Reddit:

“I keep a daily journal where I have four columns. I have a column of nice things I have done for others, bad things I have done to others, bad things others have done to me, and nice things others have done for me. I end every day with a short reflection, and what I always find is that the good outweighs the bad, every day.”

Perspective is often what is missing on a bad day, and this seems like one good tool for regaining it.

Rock out I’ve got Spotify playlists just for crappy days. Which one I play depends on how my mood is skewing: if I’m feeling depressive, I might play sad songs, which, as I have written before, can have the power to stimulate the production of dopamine to your brain. Sometimes, I just want comfort, so I’ll listen to Steely Dan, or maybe some Brazilian Bossa Nova. And sometimes, if the cause of my bad day is an actual thing that happened and not just the product of my brain, I’ll just want to rock out, or to listen to upbeat music. The change in outlook is often instantaneous—music is a bit magic that way.