How to bounce back after a bad day

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Do you ever have just one of those days? Of course you do. Some days just start out rotten and sometimes, a stressful situation can throws you a curve ball and BOOM! A good day turns to a bad day in a heartbeat. Maybe your dishwasher craps out the day before you're supposed to have company and you get quoted an absolutely obnoxious amount for a repair. Maybe you had a spat with your partner. If my husband and I exchange harsh words first thing in the morning, it just tanks the day. Or, maybe nothing earth-shatteringly terrible has happened but your day just isn’t going the way you planned.

When I'm in the throes of a bad day, my usual response is to eat my feelings. Mini snickers bars are my weakness. But guess what? As yummy as those mini Snickers bars are, my bad day is still right there waiting for me and needs to be dealt with. It’s better to just face it head on so you can move past it and get back to a happier place.

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Here are my go-t0 hacks for surviving a bad day and getting on with life:

Show some compassion

The usual tendency is to beat yourself up and shoulder the blame. That’s why it’s important to give yourself some grace when you’re dealing with stress. It is important to show yourself some love and kindness. If your best friend were having a bad day, you'd be kind to them and tell them not to be so hard on their self, wouldn't you? You deserve that same level of compassion.

Write your feelings down to get them out of your head. Enjoy a bubble bath and read a good book. Have a good cry if you need it. Do something to release the negative emotions you’re holding in so you can feel good about yourself. And remind yourself that you’re dealing with your situation the best that you can.

Accept your emotions

It is perfectly normal to have a bad day. It happens to everyone. Think of your emotions like they are waves in the ocean. They will constantly change, always rising and falling. But none of them lasts forever. Feeling anger, frustration and sadness are normal emotions and a natural part of life.

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Have a salad

Yes, you might first reach for the chocolate (or something else equally bad for you) when you're stressed out but leafy greens purify your blood and they can lift your emotions. When stress hits, bad food choices are usually not far behind. Instead, be intentional and make choices that will improve your mood and benefit your body.

Leave the snacks alone

Remember the bad food choices brought on by stress? It can cause you to eat continually and mindlessly, which is pretty hard on your digestive system, making it work to break down food. With so much going on in our bodies, we don’t have the energy we need to focus on more important things, like cheering up! Reach for something healthy to turn your mood back around.

When I reach for those min Snickers bars (which I shouldn't even have in the house), I'll tell myself I'm going to have just one. And that becomes just two because what kind of person can have one? After about the sixth piece of candy, I tell myself how much I suck for having zero willpower and making bad food choices and then I eat the whole bag because healthy eating is a failure for that day and I might as well go ahead and have two cheeseburgers.

Take a nap

Yes, you read that right. Enjoy some nap time. Instead of grabbing another cup of coffee to keep you going, take a quick ten minute nap. It will recharge your system and help you see your situation in a different light or even help you figure out what you need to do to resolve it.

Don’t let a bad day drag you down. Bad days happen. They suck, but accept them when they happen and do something to move on quickly so they don’t drag you down.