Have you had a bad day? Feeling pissed off and tired? It happens to all of us!
In this newsletter, I would like to share some quick techniques that I hope will help you feel better after a bad day.
Now I’m not saying that I’ve found the cure to ending all your bad days. As much as I would love to, we can’t change the fact that bad days will happen. However, what we can change is our approach to them. These are some small but powerful steps that you can practice every day, and over time will ultimately help you turn your bad days into good ones.
Table of Contents
Realize that this bad day will make us appreciate the good ones.
Maybe your exam didn’t go well, your manager was particularly unpleasant today, or that two-hour traffic jam this morning really started your day off badly.
In short, there are plenty of reasons why our day can get off to a bad start, but it doesn’t have to stay that way!
In these moments of irritation and frustration, take time to reflect and understand that the next day will be a good one, and that this bad day will only help you appreciate it more. The nuance of our days only makes our lives fuller.
Listen to music
In 2011 McGill University, published a study that found that music stimulates dopamine production, which can lead to a strong sense of well-being. So DJ put that record on!
Here is my song of the moment!
Let’s exercise!
Exercise encourages your brain to release endorphins, a neurochemical that boosts your mental health, while also reducing negative emotions, such as the stress hormone Cortisol.
If you feel a lot of tension in your muscles, but you don’t feel like walking or doing exercise,
here’s an alternative:
- Feel free to stay sitting, or if you have the option, stand up to gain some movement in your muscles
- Inhale as deeply as you can for three seconds
- Hold your breath for three seconds while tensing your muscles as tightly as you can.
- And exhale, letting go of the tension and relaxing all your muscles.
By doing this you will help relieve muscle tensions and as a result of this, relieve tension in the mind.
Correct your posture
As I previously mentioned in our article How To Speak In Public, American psychologist Amy Cuddy, found that our posture actually has a strong correlation to our mental well-being. Who knew straightening the body could also help straighten the mind.
By standing up straight you are more likely to think positive thoughts
- Here are some helpful tips for good posture:
- Stand up.
- Position your feet slightly wider than hip-width.
- Straighten your head (imagine a wire running from the top of your head connecting you to the sky)
- Bring your shoulders back to expand your rib cage
Smile
Studies conducted by Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman showed that smiling had both physiological and psychological benefits on participants.
Dr. Isha Gupta a neurologist from IGEA Brain explains that a “smile spurs a chemical reaction in the brain, releasing certain hormones including dopamine and serotonin” which increases our feelings of happiness.
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy” Thich Nhat Hanh
So let’s smile 🙂
Laugh!
When I’m in a bad mood, I like to watch a stand-up routine from a comedian I like, or a scene from one of my favorite comedy shows as I know this is a guaranteed way to make myself laugh, and laughter triggers the release of serotonin, the hormone of happiness.
And that is something we definitely shouldn’t deprive ourselves of!
Let go of your frustration by keeping a journal.
So when something frustrates you in your day, it can be helpful to keep a journal where you can write down your frustrations. Once your issues are laid out on paper, it can help the problem seem smaller or easier to tackle.
Psychologists have found writing about your feelings can help the brain overcome emotional upsets and leave you feeling happier.
Breathe
If you’ve read us before, you’ll already know that I believe breathing is the key to well being.
So if you’re feeling tense after a bad day, but perhaps you don’t have the time to take part in a full meditation, here are some simple breathing techniques that will help relieve any internal stress and frustration you may have:
Breathe through the abdomen while counting to three,
- Inhale counting up to three,
- Hold your breath on three,
- And exhale counting back down to one.
By doing that you will release tensions and less tension in the body means less tension in the head!
Practice being grateful
During a difficult day, it’s easy to get swept up in the negatives and not appreciate what we already have. However, by practicing gratitude, you can bring some positivity into your mind and turn this bad day into a good one.
We have many things in life to be grateful for, but we often take many of them for granted. And yet happiness is to be able to enjoy what we already have.
Another simple method in practicing gratitude, is writing down three things that you are grateful for every morning.
“Studies have traced a range of impressive benefits to the simple act of writing down the things for which we’re grateful—benefits including better sleep, fewer symptoms of illness, and more happiness among adults and kids alike”
I hope these techniques will help you get rid of some of that frustration and negative energy the next time you have a bad day and help you realize that life comes with its own unique set of ups and downs. Nothing is forever, and tomorrow will be a better day.
I’d love to hear your techniques on overcoming bad days, let me know!
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things” Robert Brault