Thursday, January 9, 2014

Moving Past a Bad Day

We've all been there. Those days leave you wanting a do-over before you even get out of bed.

You get up late because you forgot to set the alarm, you quickly realize you didn't wash your work shirt and the baby has peed through her pajamas and sheets.  You wipe the baby off with a baby wipe 'cause there's no time for a bath and spray your little brothers Axe body spray on your work shirt to mask any offensive odors.  You rush out the door with a cold poptart in hand and have to go back in the house because you forgot the diaper bag.  You hit every stinkin' red light in town on the way to daycare and get to work just in time to clock in before the 7 minute late mark. And, so goes the rest of your day.

By the time you pick up your baby from daycare, you have spent a 6 hour work shift in an irritated state and sat through a boring 75 minute lecture in your sociology class where you were assigned a 12 page paper due in two days. The last thing you feel like doing is listening to a baby who is teething and yes, starting to run a fever.

And then, by the time you close your eyes and try to catch an hour or two of sleep before it's time to get up and press repeat, you wonder how you will make it through the next four days, let alone seventeen years.

Sometimes we forget that we have the power to choose our attitude no matter what our circumstances are.  When I am grumpy or cranky, I tend to take it out on those I'm closest to- my husband and my kids.  They should get the best of me but often times they get the short tempered, snippy, impatient me that not many other people see.

It's okay to feel overwhelmed.  It's okay to have bad days.  Just don't let those bad days turn into bad weeks turn into bad years. 


When you feel like you just can't make it through another stressful moment, there is One person that can help you turn your frown upside down.  His name is Jesus and He is a great listener and always there to help you turn your attitude around.

"call for help when you’re in trouble—
    I’ll help you, and you’ll honor me.” Psalm 50:15


One thing I do when I'm feeling really stressed is to write down 3-5 things that I am thankful for.  Not the big things like: I'm thankful for my child or thankful for a roof over my head.  But, I pay attention to the little things that happened that same day that were a blessing.  Like my favorite creamer in my coffee, the guy that held the elevator for me at work, the sound of birds chirping. There is no right or wrong way to do this exercise. The goal is just to open our eyes to the tiny blessings that we encounter throughout our every day life that we tend to overlook, especially when we are cranky and feeling sorry for ourselves.

What do you do to turn a bad day around?

Till tomorrow,
Melissa

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