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Tips for A Successful Bad Day…

Guest post by: Jackie Mckay

Article Overview: Have you ever had one of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong did? I’m writing this based on personal experience this past week. I won’t drag you into the details. Now, I think it was pretty silly and can laugh.

Tips for A Successful Bad Day…

Have you ever had one of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong did?

I’m writing this based on personal experience this past week. I won’t drag you into the details. Now, I think it was pretty silly and can laugh. At the time, it was SERIOUS BUSINESS in my head. My inner critic got the most of me. All I’ll say is that I was humming “Ya had a bad day” (by Daniel Powter) over and over and over.

This is a hot topic actually. I get a lot of people wondering what to do when nothing seems to be going right or when they start feel depleted or insecure. So how do you hold your head high and not sabotage your efforts? Especially when you have some important goals set for yourself.

It’s easy to give up when you feel defeated. It’s easy to escape or over indulge yourself with too many treats. It’s easy to cave into the negative voices. It’s easy to fall into victimhood.

The worst part of this is that when you do cave, there is often tremendous guilt and shame associated with the sabotaging actions. You usually end up feeling worse. And this can either stop your progress in your tracks or create more resistance in achieving your goals. The worst part of all this is that it simply creates an on-going pattern of defeat.

There will always be “bad” days. The trick is how you deal with them.

I see this pattern showing up often in my client’s. I know I’ve been there too. I’m writing this article fresh off of a bad day. And the difference between this bad day and others is this: I had a bad day and it turned out to be a great day.

And here’s the thing, I strengthened my awareness and resilience muscles and I didn’t totally give into self sabotaging my efforts. I decided this week to be conscious about letting myself really experience the badness of the day. And it felt amazing! I didn’t push any bad emotions down into the dungeon. I didn’t ignore them. I sat with them and let them bubble up to the surface. I got to feel sad. I got to feel depressed. I got to feel anxious, like a failure, like a goof-ball etc.

Doing this type of “work” is hard work. It’s not for the faint of heart. It means being serious with looking at the not so nice emotions. It means feeling weak, vulnerable, like a failure. You have to be brave to face your demons. It’s dreary and heavy. And at the same time it’s liberating.

The reason it’s LIBERATING is because you get to really experience the emotions. You get to be honest with yourself about your thoughts. When you allow yourself permission to notice these horrible feeling and process the gunk that comes with them they have LESS POWER over you. It will give you the capacity to be with conditions you may have been avoiding, pretending or denying. This now becomes an empowered position where you will not only feel a great release, but you’ll be able to make better decisions and be stronger.

I’ve come up with a list of things to be mindful of when you find yourself having a not so good moment. I think I did almost every one of these things on the list – especially the crying one! I added a few extras that were notable.

I hope you’ll keep a few of these ideas on hand when you find yourself having a bad moment, day or week.

1. Do something extra nice for a someone who is in a worse situation than yourself

2. Do something extra nice for anyone

3. Surrender your concerns to a higher power

4. Show up with your best possible game face – don’t turn away or give up

5. Take a moment with yourself. Get quiet. Watch your thoughts like clouds. Notice what you’re saying to yourself. Is what you’re saying true? Do you know for sure?

6. Stay away from negative people or people who zap your energy

7. Find someone you can talk to and who will listen only. Specifically ask them to be a container for your thoughts without feeling like they need to fix you or the problem

8. Journal you’re FEELINGS. Not just the events of what’s happening. When you’re done, take a deep breath of relief.

9. Stay away from the news

10. Stay away from tabloid magazines

11. Switch on an inspiring audio CD or read a passage in an uplifting book

12. Refrain from the cookies!

13. Do not go shopping

14. Create an affirmation for yourself and rehearse it as many times as you need. Mine is “I’m positively experiencing great results no matter what I see in front of me. The universe is rearranging itself for my best interest right now.”

15. Cry your heart out. Just have at it. Let it ALL out. No Kleenex! Notice what comes up. Notice the relief you get! (You may be upset about a lot more than you ever imagined!)

16. Do one tiny thing that will move you towards your goal no matter how badly you don’t want to. Give yourself a “way to go” for moving through the moment.

17. Take a walk – as many times as needed

18. Have a warm bath with candles and Epsom salts

19. Watch a good movie

20. Think of someone you deeply respect and admire – what would they do?

21. Review your successes

22. Open up your body – reach up for the sky. Take a deep breath. Our bodies are usually contracted and small when we’re upset.

23. If none of these work, stay in bed and let yourself wallow. When you’re done, pick yourself up and take a baby step towards your intentions.

You’re Assignment:

The next time you have a bad day don’t give up or give in to the dark voices or uncontrollable circumstances. Don’t ignore the feelings either. Deal with them head on. Allow yourself permission to get real with the crummy emotions and voices your head.

Next, acknowledge and embrace the discomfort of the emotions. Let them be there. Turn the volume waaay up. Get angry, cry, have a good scream. Hit a pillow. Swear your heart out! Really experience this. Go full out. Don’t keep pushing your emotions away – give them the full acknowledgement and the release they REALLY need and deserve.

In doing this you’re becoming conscious and awake. You’re becoming more “connected”. You’re eliminating emotional toxins and you are empowering yourself.

Next, and when you’re ready, pick yourself up, brush yourself off and breathe a sigh of relief that the sun will come up tomorrow.

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Article Tags: bad days, business, efforts, goals



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