I promised to share my struggles as well as my successes. Yesterday was one of those days that I wished that I had stayed in bed. Waking up late and hurrying around getting ready for work created stress. However, I did arrive to work on time. I needed to overcome a bad day, do you?
As I scurried around getting things set up for the day, I made an error which is simple to remedy. However, it shut down the machine I was working on for about 15 minutes. This is a problem when the entire day depends on how smoothly and quickly the instrument maintenance is completed. I have understanding co-workers, but my pride was wounded.
While I continued with my day, I fretted about making that one mistake.I chided myself for being stupid, dumb, incompetent and any other negative word that I could throw at myself. Of course, I felt like crying.
Arriving home after work, my mood did not improve. My friend called needing a shoulder to lean on, followed by my “sis” calling about marriage troubles and my daughter calling with serious worries on her mind.
Working on my web site, I was trying to add some new functions when the install that I had just purchased failed to load. I tried all the site trouble shooting tips and nothing worked. Frustrated, I shut my computer off for the night.
I considered myself a colossal failure as I made mistakes at work, ran into problems with the installs for my website, and felt like I was no help or comfort to my friends and daughter who reached out to me. Did I go to bed frustrated? Of course I did.
To add to my misery, I over slept by an hour this morning. I made more than one “stupid” mistake at work. “Get a grip!” I silently yelled at myself. “Just get a grip!” I definitely needed to overcome a bad day!
I did manage to get a grip and my day went much better after I did these four things:
First, I took a deep breath and realized once again that I don’t have to be perfect. It helps to reminds myself daily that the only person that expects perfection from me is myself.
I examined my self talk and realized that I had gone down a path that leads to negativity. Words like colossal failure, stupid, incompetent etc. only drag me down and they magnify small mistakes into huge mistakes.
Another important step that I took is to take time to recognize what worked well for the day. I give myself credit where credit is due. Many of us need to do this more often. If we suffer from anxiety and depression, we often look right past the positive in ourselves and our lives.
In addition, I gave myself permission to be wrong. Is making a simple mistake the end of the world? No, not in this context. I am learning that mistakes are valuable lessons and can be key to personal and professional growth.
As I pointed out in my blog post Choosing Impossible Hope A Beginners Guide, it takes practice to overcome years of negative thought patterns. Be kind to yourself as you learn new strategies for coping. I know that I function much better when I am kind to myself.
As a challenge, the next time you need to overcome a bad day, try practicing these 4 tips and see how well they work for you. Leave a comment below to start a conversation.
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