Turn Your Bad Days Into Good

Today was one of those days when nothing went right. I partied until late last night, and slept in till much later than I normally do. Hence messing up my morning routine.

My day was off to a bad start.

Then it just kept getting worse. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say, things were not going my way, at all. It just kept piling on, one after another. Mind you, nothing truly tragic happened. Rather, a series of events mostly out of my control that could have gone my way, did not. My mood was getting darker as the day went on. I could feel myself slipping into the grip of agitation and anger.

The old grouchy would have given in and just sulked; hoping for a better tomorrow.

But I know better now.

Instead, I chose to stop my negative reaction in its tracks. I put on my workout clothes and did a good 30 min of intense exercise, releasing all that pent up energy. After the workout, the natural high I felt elevated my mood even more.

Clarity and perspective finally came over me. A few simple things came to mind:

• It’s not always about what we want from life, but how we react to life’s unpredictable surprises that define our path to success or failure.

• Don’t wait until tomorrow to fix today’s problems. If you can do something about it, do it today, do it now.

• Anger and self-pity is mostly wasted energy, burn it off or channel it into something positive as quickly as possible. Physical exercise is a great way to do this.

• Most of all, self-awareness is of the utmost importance. Don’t allow yourself to slip into the usual pit of wallowing. Catch yourself from falling further and take positive action right away, no matter how small. You are the captain of your own ship, you choose the direction!

Today started off badly, got worse, but it turned out to be quite productive, as I applied what I’ve learned and gained more control over my own thinking.

It’s all about perspective and having the right frame of mind.

Come to think of it, I'm having a great day!