Everybody Has Bad Days. Everybody!
It’s the thing – maybe the only thing – we all have in common with Beyonce and Tom Brady. There is not a human on the planet who gets to skate through life struggle-free.
Your bad days can be opportunities to grow, change, even rest. Or they can be debilitating exercises in self-flagellation. It all depends on you and what you tell yourself.
Here are three things to tell yourself to stop a bad day from wrecking your week:
“What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Stronger.”
It’s cliché, sure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. When we reframe our tough experiences as opportunities for growth, we don’t mind enduring them quite so much. Instead of something being pointlessly painful, hard times become more like a particularly challenging leg day at the gym: sure, we’ll be sore afterward, but that soreness brings growth.
“This Too Shall Pass.”
Today may, in fact, be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day – but it’s just a day. It will end. The sun will set and the sun will rise again. We can torment ourselves by thinking, “It’s always going to be like this.” Or even worse, “I’m always going to be like this.” We can get sucked into a negative spiral of thinking “Why does this always happen to me?” and “Here we go again.”
But if we can break that negative momentum by reminding ourselves that this bad moment is just a moment, then the bad day will seem like something we can overcome.
“Baby Steps.”
In the movie “What About Bob”, Bill Murray’s character is dealing with crippling fears. He is instructed by his therapist, Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, that the key to pushing past life’s challenges is to take “baby steps.” Marvin explains, It means setting small, reasonable goals for yourself. One day at a time, one tiny step at a time—do-able, accomplishable goals…When you leave this office, don’t think about everything you have to do to get out of the building, just deal with getting out of the room. When you reach the hall, just deal with the hall. And so forth. Baby steps.”
Yes, it’s just a movie, but it’s also a healthy way to get through challenges. Don’t think of everything you have to deal with, just deal with one small thing at a time.
No one gets an easy life. Everyone will have hardships. How you think about those hardships will determine how quickly and easily you overcome them.
To Your Continued Success,
Luis Scott
