Sometimes, we have bad days. Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations we’d rather not be experiencing. Sometimes, we’re just plain unlucky.
Even when we have those tough days and experience those things we’d rather not experience, though, we can still make the most of it.
Living in a global pandemic, the chances of having a bad day are pretty high. Maybe you know someone who has COVID and you had to get tested, maybe you’re quarantined with a family member who tested positive, maybe you had rough side effects from the vaccine, maybe you tested positive and have to quarantine, maybe an experience you were really looking forward to got canceled. There are so many ways this pandemic is still impacting our daily lives, and almost everyone I know has had at least one of the above experiences, including myself.
When we have one of those bad days, though, instead of looking at it as bad luck or the universe is out to get us, we can turn it into a learning experience and make it count.
This week, I had one of those experiences. I found myself in a situation I didn’t want to be in, and I felt anger, confusion, and sadness. The situation was out of my hands, and that made me feel even worse. I felt like I had no control over my own life, and, to some extent, that is true. At first, I didn’t know what to do. As time went on, though, I treated it as a learning and growing experience. I’ve talked about the feeling of having no control before, and I’ve talked about the anxiety it gives me. This week really put my ability to cope with those situations to the test, and I think I passed.
Instead of dwelling on the negatives of the experience, I’ve tried to look at it objectively and then turn it into a positive. Yes, something bad happened. Yes, it did affect me. Yes, I could not control the fact that it happened. Will it negatively affect the rest of my life? No. It is temporary, and while the situation was not ideal, it’s out of my hands. While I’m not glad it happened, I did learn from it and grow as a person. I took it as an opportunity to learn how to view negatives in a more positive light and to not take things for granted.
Since then, I’ve been working on making the most out of each day and working on improving myself in the process. I wake up and think, “What can I do to make today better?” This morning, I made my bed, made french press coffee for the first time in a long time, and admired the beauty of a rainy spring day. I could have woken up, left my bed a mess, turned on the coffee maker, and been irritated that it’s raining. Instead, I chose to be intentional and productive and make the most of it.
We all have bad days. We all have negative experiences. The way we handle them is what counts.
As always, stay safe & stay healthy.
Xo,
Kayla W.