How to Deal With a Bad Day

By Natalie Ekberg

You all recognize those days when right from the beginning "everything "seems to go horribly wrong. Worse even, sometimes, when we still lie in our beds and take the new day in, when we start thinking about what lies ahead and how much of it is potentially unpleasant, we have written our day off before it has even started! Did you find yourself in this? The question remains, what is the best and the easiest way out of the conundrum?

Try to look at every circumstance of a "bad" day as a gift. There might be messages the Universe was trying to send to you for a long time but you stubbornly refused to listen. So then the messages became stronger and now, when you are facing a flat tire and a sick child in the car, you can't do anything else but stop, ask for help, hug your child and put everything else on hold. Sounds pretty hopeless, right? Now try and look at it from different perspectives.

The service man arrives to change your tire and notices that you haven't put your winter tires on, even though it is a middle of December and the roads are slippery to no end. So you go on, schedule the appointment for the tires exchange and, because he is a decent man and can see you are having a tough time, he promises to take you immediately, whenever you turn up. Not bad a deal, for one flat tire, ah? Now let's look at your child. Poor thing might have been waiting for a mummy hug and undivided attention for ages and now he is in heaven, having mummy to himself and spending time in an immobile car together. He wishes the service man would never turn up! And then there are you. Sure, you have missed an important meeting but you didn't feel you were so well prepared anyway. A forced postponement is just what might have saved you and here it came! Nobody can argue with such a horrible, unfortunate, messy circumstances.

It's just, it isn't all so bad, right? You are relieved you don't have to attend the dreaded meeting, you are grateful for a mild reminder about the tires and the happy look on your child's face melts your heart away like nothing has done for a long time. And so you drive home, put your child to sleep, make yourself a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy a surprise gift of a responsibility - free afternoon. Who was mentioning something about the bad day? It couldn't have been you, right?

Bad days have an important role in our lives, so before you get upset, angry and out of control, stop yourself in the tracks and ask: what is the message here? And then look around very carefully and look for the answers. They are all there; it's just that sometimes they are hiding in the places we don't really want to go. And then you have a choice: do I want to continue with this bad luck business or would I rather gather my courage and hit the problem bang on its head and deal with it once and forever? I bet you know the right answer.

Go on, enjoy your bad days, they are your best life teachers!

About the Author: Natalie Ekberg is an international personal and executive coach and offers self-improving, motivational and coaching e-courses and e-books as well as face to face or telephone coaching. http://www.lblifecoaching.com/10-easy-steps-to-keeping-your-motivation-high.php