Stephanie Jean

I’m pretty sure everyone can relate to the term “bad day.” It doesn’t matter how zen you are- bad days happen. Things fall apart. Life jumps in your face. You can’t let go of something someone said to you. You stub your toe- you know those days. The days where everything just feels like shit.

I had one of those days today. My fiancé started training for his dream job this week, which he is incredibly busy with. This has taken our “together time” from many hours of quality time together after work every day, to about twenty minutes. He is still working from the time he gets home almost until he goes to bed- it’s intense. Please don’t misunderstand- I’m really, really proud of him, and so excited for what this means for our future. My positive feelings about the change certainly outweigh the negative, but I’ll be real- the sacrifices we have to make right now totally suck.

That, among a couple other life things (and lack of sleep lately, ugh), got me down today. Being the optimistic person that I am, I know that these feelings are completely temporary, and they’ll pass with time… but I also have a few tricks I’d like to share that help break me out of funks.

• Stretch.
  Get the energy flowing through your body. Stretch your arms over your head, imagine your feet rooted to the core of Earth, and take a deep breath.
• Meditate.
  Take some time for yourself and just breathe. When anxious or negative thoughts come up, and they will, gently remind yourself that you don’t need to worry about them right now.
• Carry a crystal for positive energy.
  Crystals have healing energy properties, and have been used for centuries as ritual aids. Black tourmaline is a powerful crystal used for taking negative spiritual energy and turning it into useful, positive energy. For more information on this particular crystal, click here.
• Take a walk.
  I find switching up my environment to be incredibly useful. Not only that, but walking and being out in nature will increase the serotonin levels in your brain… aka, make you happier.
• Pay a compliment.
  Making someone else smile will make you smile, too. Go on, try it.
• Spend some time with yourself.
  Participate in activities that you enjoy and that engage your mind- read a book, chat with a friend, draw, whatever you want. Just make sure that it uses your brain because when you’re focused on your activity, you won’t be focused on your bad mood.
• Cry it out.
  Release that emotion into the world! Visualize the negative energy leaving your body with every tear. Don’t you always feel better after a good cry?
• Realize that bad days are normal.
  Observe your bad day objectively, and don’t take it personally. Even the most zenned out, relaxed person experiences bad days, they just don’t let it consume them. The day is only 24 hours long- you have another chance to have a good one tomorrow. 🙂

How do you handle your bad days? What’s the most useful bad day activity you have in your arsenal?