You Had a Bad Day
You had a bad day today. Absolutely nothing happened the way you wanted it to. You argued with your spouse. The baby dropped their drink all over the floor. The dog ran on the carpet with muddy paws. Your kids were fighting and arguing all day long. Your mom called to vent her own frustrations at you. It’s been a whole freaking day. You’re tapped out, depleted, and worn thin. It’s totally normal to have days like this. Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows every single day. But on the bad days, there are ways to turn things around and help yourself feel a little bit better.
Bad days are often made worse by the voice inside our heads. You know the one. The voice that says things like, “You’re an awful mom.” Or, “I can’t believe you could be so stupid to let that happen.” We tend to be more negative on bad days because it’s a slippery slope. It’s easy to take a lot of blame for the things happening around us, even if we aren’t the cause. Then the voice in our heads takes over and tells us a bunch of lies.
The first step to having a better day is to tell the voice to be quiet and sit down. Negative thoughts are relatively normal to have, it’s what we do with them that matters the most. When you hear the negative comments from the voice inside your mind, tell it to be quiet. This one bad day is not a reflection of who you are as a person, a partner, or a mom.
After you’ve quieted down that obnoxious negative voice, reframe and replace the thoughts with positive ones. Let’s say your toddler just destroyed their playroom and the voice in your mind is saying, “Wow, you really let this place fall apart. Way to go.” After quieting down that negative comment, reframe the situation and place it in reality. Toddlers are little monster people who make messes. It’s not your fault this happened. As a bonus, you can make this a learning opportunity by having your child help you clean up the mess. Taking the blame off of yourself will help you feel so much better.
While some days are worse than others, trying to keep a positive mindset and reframing negative thoughts is a good way to see the bigger picture of what’s going on. The next time you have a bad day, put on that Daniel Powter song, tell your negative inner voice to take a backseat, and reframe your thoughts in a positive light.
