It’s wonderful to wake up every morning and be excited for the day. Expect the best, attract the positive, life will be grand. However, in reality, some days are better than others. Let’s face it, life happens. So what do we do when it’s not our favorite day? We have to change our routine, reschedule important things, and change our expectations. It’s not pleasant, but always keep in mind that life is a fluid situation. The earth is always moving, conditions are always changing around us, and we need to be able to do the same.
So, you look at the situation, make your changes, and continue on – but you’re not happy about it. In fact, now you are downright grumpy. What now? Here are a few ideas to help change the grumpy frown to a satisfied smile.
Look for the humor
There is humor in irony, and usually you can find a reason to laugh. There are many benefits to laughing. Laughter Yoga University (yes that is a real thing, but that’s for another blog) teaches that, “ten minutes of hearty laughter is equal to thirty minutes on a rowing machine. The foremost benefit of laughing is that one remains cheerful throughout the day. This sense of wellbeing comes from the release of feel good hormones called endorphins.
“It decreases the negative effects of stress on your body which is the root cause of all illness. Laughter Yoga is a single exercise that deals with physical, mental and emotional stress simultaneously. It also strengthens the immune system, lowers blood pressure, controls blood sugar, and keeps your heart healthy. It is a powerful antidote against depression the number one sickness today.
“Laughing promotes a healthy heart. In a good bout of laughter, there is a dilation of blood vessels all over the body. Weve all seen or experienced this as a flushed appearance and feeling of warmth. Pulse rate and blood pressure rise as the circulatory system is stimulated before settling down, below the original levels. In a nutshell, laughter helps tone the circulatory system of the body.”
Try to find humor in the situation, but if you can’t, then just laugh for no reason. The body doesn’t care why you laugh – you get the same benefits. If you’re trying to turn your day around, the feel good hormones are going to help no matter what.
Accept it, don’t fight it
You can’t do anything to change it, so accept that you will need to adapt. How you adapt is up to you. You can choose to just survive the day, or you can make the best of it.
When you choose to accept it, you are helping to validate what you are feeling. This allows you to extend yourself some compassion and process any emotions in a healthy way. From there, you can make a plan for effective action.
Revisit your schedule
It’s a given that the day is not going to go as originally planned. Maybe now is a good time to look at your schedule for the rest of the week. Can you rearrange things to make better use of the day and the rest of the week? Have a positive, yet realistic approach on what is reasonable.
Take comfort knowing that changing up your schedule has it’s own benefits. Changing things up every now and then will help you with increased focus, improved memory, and increased creativity. Our brains get lazy without change.
Make the challenge into an adventure
What would your local superhero do in this situation? What about your favorite video game character. Make an adventure out of it. You know you are smart enough and tough enough to succeed in turning your day around. Challenge yourself and prove once again that you know how to persevere and outlast the challenge before you. You’ve got this!
Play the Pollyanna game
When I was a child, we used to have a “tin can movie” each year at school. We would bring a can of food for the food drive and then we could all go sit in the gym and watch a movie on the day before our winter holiday. My favorite movie that they would show was always Pollyanna. I loved her positivity, and that is part of the reason I value it so much today.
Pollyanna would play the “glad game” any time things weren’t going quite the way she wanted them to go. One of the stories she shared with her Aunt Polly was about how she really wanted a doll for Christmas. Her parents were missionaries and did not have access to a doll, but they often got “missionary barrels” of supplies.
When the next missionary barrel arrived, Pollyanna was sure it would contain the doll she had been asking for, but instead found a pair of crutches. Her aunt asked her what she could possible find to be glad about when she got crutches instead of the doll. Pollyanna immediately responded that she was glad because she didn’t need the crutches!
Find something else to think about
If the situation seems overwhelming, and you have a few minutes to figure it all our, take a break. Think about something else, call a friend for a short chat, play a five minute brain game, read a few pages of a motivational book. Consider taking a walk. A walk is a great time to unwind and regroup, plus walking is good for you, too.Then come back and tackle the situation. Be sure to set a time limit for yourself though, so you can still accomplish what you need to do.
It’s your choice
Not every day is going to be your favorite day. Things are going to happen to try to disrupt your peace. You can choose to run away and hide, or you can face the day with a renewed sense of purpose and make the best of the situation.
See how much you can accomplish today, whatever comes your way.
Find your purpose – find your joy!
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Did you find a few more ideas of your own? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments, and as always please reach out with your thoughts.
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