Questions to Lift Yourself Out of a Bad Day

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”
Henry David Thoreau

“If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.”
John A Simone

Some days go well. Other days can feel lackluster. Some days may start out pretty good but turn bad.
What can you do when you are having a bad day?
Ask yourself a few helpful questions. These questions may help you to regain a more optimistic and constructive perspective when you feel like doing nothing, dwelling on a problem or when your are in a bad mood.
Am I making a mountain out of a molehill right now?
It’s very easy to fall into the habit of making mountains out of molehills. You think and think about a small problem until it becomes something that you believe may ruin your life.
To snap myself out such a thought pattern I like to question and reevaluate by using this question. It makes life lighter because few things are real mountains. Most issues tend to be molehills exaggerated by overthinking, listening too much to other people’s pessimism or not asking yourself helpful questions.
Does anyone on the planet have it worse than me right now?
Use this one when you are stuck on focusing on the negatives, when you feel like a victim and like things are going against you.
The answer helps you to remember and understand that you have much to be grateful for in your life.
This question can change your perspective from a narrow, self-centred one into a much wider one. It can help you to lighten up about your situation.

What can I learn from this situation and is there an opportunity here to grow in some way?
Whenever you are having a setback with your blog or having a bad day in another area of your life, take a pause. Then ask yourself this question.
And in almost all cases you can learn something new and/or change the direction in your actions so that you or some part of your life becomes better. Many times the bad days have in retrospect turned out to be blessings in disguises because they have been points when you have changes things in some way and made your life better.

What is one small step I can take right now to get ball rolling and to start turning this situation around?
Instead of spending too much time on dwelling on the problem or negative feelings see what you can do about the situation right now. By just getting the ball rolling in some small way by taking an action right now or today you can feel relieved and a whole lot better.

Can I just accept that this is how I feel right now?
Some issues you may not be able to take action on today to start resolving.
But that doesn’t mean that you cannot feel better about what is happening.
You can often feel better in these difficult situations by asking the question above and by fully accepting that this is how you feel right now.
Now, it is often a natural impulse to try to deny negative feelings or thoughts when they show up in your life. Perhaps you try to not think about them, perhaps you try to push that feeling away.
You have found that in many cases it is actually better to just accept that the negative feelings and thoughts are here right now (although it can be hard to sometimes convince your brain that this is a good option as it wants to deny or reject what is).
By accepting that you feel this way and that these thoughts are floating in your mind you stop feeding more energy into them and you stop making them strong. After a few minutes of fully taking in this uncomfortable feeling and thoughts and accepting that they are here then they start to lose steam. They just seem to float away and you once again feel more open and are able to think more clearly.