Horrible things happen all the time, and there is nothing quite like those awful days.
I know what it is like. Several years of infertility brought with it bad results, medical complications and a heartbreaking miscarriage.
You hope that you can pause time. You just want to crawl into bed, put your head under the sheets, sulk and resurface after three days. Or, you just feel like going on a huge bender and getting completely messed up, just so you can say ‘screw you’ to the world.
But, trust me, there are other ways to shake off the stress of a bad day and ways that will help you cultivate more happiness and better stress relief.
Here are seven things I do to shake off an awful day:
Have a shower
This is my all time favourite way to shake off a bad day. I take a nice, long, hot shower and picture the stresses melting away as the water runs over me. Focus on, once you get out of the shower, putting the day to bed and starting afresh. As you get dressed, picture yourself starting all over again, with all that crap behind you.
Cook a big dinner, with dessert
Cooking an extravagant dinner takes your mind off your situation. You’re too busy making sure you don’t burn the pine nuts, while simultaneously making sure the dessert is coming along to worry about what happened during the day, and once you serve your meal, you’ll have a feeling of accomplishment and a moment to savour the delicious meal in front of you.
Go for a walk
Isn’t nature a great stress killer? I love just going for a long walk and breathing in the fresh air, and looking at all the beautiful gardens along the street, the tall trees and the birds. Sometimes I just run (even though I’m NOT a runner) and the breathing helps calm me down, and it helps me release my frustration. Plus, I’m too busy focusing on not dying (lol) to worry about whatever bad news I’ve had.
Write it down
Sometimes I get out a piece of paper or whip out the keyboard and just start typing like the wind, letting out all of my negative feelings and vibrations onto a piece of paper and then once I’ve finished downloading what was on my mind, I close the piece of paper, picture it as closure, and move on.
Do the jobs you have been putting off
Spring clean your mind with a bit of cleaning. I crank up the music and then start cleaning the pantry like a mad women, and let out my aggression on the vacuuming and the bathroom scrubbing. It takes my mind off my situation and the bonus is that when I’m done, I’m like ‘yessssss’.
Sun Salutations and a Guided Meditation
I LOVE Youtube for yoga and guided meditations. Here are a few I thought were pretty rad.
If you don’t mind swearing – this one always brings a smile to my face. When he swears, I can’t help but smile!
If I want to do a serious meditation, for some reason I always prefer a female voice.
There are heaps of longer yoga sequences online, but sometimes I just need a few moments to recentre myself and this one is only 10 minutes long.
Get spontaneous
Call up a friend at the last minute and arrange a last minute dinner, movie or yoga class. Immersing yourself in good conversation will leave you buzzing when you get back for all the right reasons. Some of my favourite memories have been at dinners on a crappy day. I’ll always remember Ross and I receiving bad news and going out for dinner in the city and stumbling across this restaurant and ending up having a fabulous night with cocktails and a delicious dinner. I have fond memories of giggles with my girlfriends after organising last minute dinners to soothe a crappy day.
Bad days happen to all of us.
The same boiling water that hardens the egg, softens the potato.
It’s all in how you shake off the bad day, so make your strategies positive, healthy choices.
Tell me – what do you do when you’ve had a crappy day?
