Bad days. 7 tips to get over it!

Sometimes life is tough. You just want to cry out. Yell and scream. You don't want to deal with anything that life is trying to throw your way. Many times that translates to you doing things that negatively impact your relationships.

It happens. But it doesn't have to be the end of you or your relationships. True relationships understand that sometimes we have bad days. Sometimes things get too hard to cope with.

The worst thing that you can do is to let it drag on. Forgive yourself and realize that shit happens to everyone. In life we have to let things roll off our back.

I like Daniel Powter's Bad Day because it reminds me that the day eventually ends. You had a bad day. Past tense. Let the bad day go and get on with the good days. 

Whether it is something that we did or someone else did. Shrug it off, get back on track and keep chugging on.

Here are a few tips to help us do just that.

1. Take a step back. Admit it. Yes, I had a bad day, but it's okay. It's not the end of the world. Remember everyone has one. If someone says they don't, they are lying. And if it is the end of the world, well then, it doesn't matter anyway does it? Also ask yourself will this one day really matter in the grand scheme of things? Two years from now will I even remember this?


2. Sing a song. Here I included one for you. It doesn't matter if you can sing or not. It doesn't matter what song it is. Music has the power to shift our thoughts and emotions. Old gospel hymns work well. This is my personal favorite. It reminds me to look up to God and remember his promises.


3. Write about it. Get your feelings out there. Let all that negativity go somewhere else. This will help you to reflect on your feelings. It doesn't have to be long and drawn out, just a few paragraphs will do.


4. Gratitude list. Write a few things you are grateful for. A gratitude list is great strategy for many things. Reminding yourself what you are grateful for will help put you mind back into the right perspective and help you to remember that God does provide for you even if it may not feel like it right now.


5. Exercise, do a physical activity or take a walk. Anything that will get you in a different environment and moving. Anything that will get you breathing and take you away from the situation. One note of caution though, when you are out walking, doing Tai Chi or working out, think about nature, your breathing, anything but what is going wrong. You don't want to use this time to dwell on the bad things but to break from them.


6. Recite your favorite verse or quote. Doing the previous step and reciting verses together would be really helpful. Sort of like a moving meditation. Psalms has a wealth of verses that are good for bad days. You don't have know whole chapters just 1 or 2 verses is good. Anything that reminds you that God loves you will do.
   
   Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you
       to guard you in all your ways;


7. Pray. Prayer is always the go to step and probably should be number one. But lets face it, many of us use prayer as a last resort, when all else has failed. And that is OK. Many times it is because we think that somethings are just so small and insignificant that we don't want to bother Jesus with them. That is not true. The best way to deal with a bad day or a good day for that matter, is to remember that God cares about us, even the small trivial things. That is truly the good news. If we can understand that, then even the bad days become a catalyst to push us closer to God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18a