I wanted to scream. It was just one of those days. You know the ones; the very bad, no good day. Kids were screaming, daughter had already drawn maker all over the table and now I couldn’t get into my blog site because the server has been down and this was day two of all this!!! I had found out my mother’s friend passed away and a another friend’s cancer treatments weren’t going well. A best friend was moving and my two-year old had been having night terrors so I was sleep deprived and worn down. Just a bad day.
There are days you can bounce back and then there are days that seem like you can’t. How do move forward and recover after day two? When the next day after the bad day is another bad day what are your options? What if its been a bad week, month or year?
This is where I was at and I had to get myself out of the funk or risk spiraling downward mentally and emotionally for a very long time.
If you are like me and have had one of these days recently or are feeling a day like this is soon approaching here are my personal coaching tips for getting up after striking out.
Step one: What can I do?
I can wash the maker stains out with magic dry erasers (those things are amazing). I can cuddle with the crying child and I can look at moving to another server for my blog site. I can pray for my mom and her time of grieving. I can send over the extra chocolate cake to my friend who is going through cancer. This is reality. Swallow. Breath. Move on.
Step two: What I can’t do (and letting it go)
I can’t recover my previous blog posts!!! I can’t drive down to florida for my mom at this exact moment. I can’t wave a wand and make my friend ok. I can’t make my child stop crying if she doesn’t want to. I can’t “zone out”! This is reality.
I like to be in control and to fix things, somethings you just can’t. Letting the simple fact settle in that you can’t change something can be the hardest part, but also the most important step to moving forward.
Step three: Commit to looking through “rose colored glasses”
You have to choose to just be positive. My husband and I were characterized as people who see through rose-colored lenses when it comes our marriage – meaning we like the fairy tale and sometimes don’t “live in reality”. For me, I have decided to try to look at everything else in life this way. Looking at things through pink clouds and the best possible outcome can have a positive effect on your attitude and your outlook. I’m not saying to deny your circumstances. Life can be hard. It can throw you a curve ball that makes you feel like your out of the game. Maybe you soon will be. However, how does being a “downer” help? The worst thing could happen. The diagnosis is real. The end of the world could be tomorrow…why does dwelling, standing in fear, or reading all about it help? Thinking on the positive is sometimes the only way to get yourself out of the fix you feel you are in.
We do what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle
I hope that wherever you are and however hard it may seem right now that you can pull back and do these simple steps to creating a better day, a better impact, and a better version of yourself.
Exodus 13:21
The Lord went before them, in a pillar of cloud during the day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire during the night to give them light. So they could travel…
Creating Exceptional 