How to Stay Positive on a Bad Day

Bad days happen to everyone, no matter who you are or how hard you try to avoid them. While you can’t avoid the inevitable, you can change how you respond to it. Having a more positive mindset isn’t about toxic positivity, where you force yourself to be positive 100% of the time, but simply letting your mind breathe, recognizing what’s happening, and finding a way to shift your thoughts to something more positive. .

Here are some helpful tips for staying positive on a bad day.

Pause and take a moment to breathe

When you have a bad day, it tends to wreak havoc on your mental state, making it impossible to maintain a positive mindset. During these times, you don’t need to force positive thoughts and repeat affirmations. Leave that behind for the quieter, gentler times of your life.

When you face a day when you feel like everything is against you, you really need to stop and breathe. You need this break to collect yourself, to give your thoughts a moment to catch up on the current situation and realign your thoughts.

It’s not about correcting them or forcing them to do what you want. Instead, it’s about taking a gentle approach to calming your mind and giving yourself a few minutes without having to think or worry about anything.

Think about why you are having a “bad” day

Once you give yourself a minute of peace and let the thoughts come back, you can recognize what’s really going on and why you feel like you’re having a bad day. What happened? Are you realistic, or are you making the situation catastrophic? Do you think this will ruin your day, or have you felt this sudden urge for anxiety and let it escalate?

This is where using a journal can come in handy, because during moments of mindfulness, where you’re practically thinking from a neutral place, you can find clarity by writing it down. This is often the time when you figure out what’s causing these negative emotions and whether it’s actually a bad day, or whether your mind is making things seem worse than they are.

Find Gratitude Amidst the Chaos

We’ve all experienced those chaotic, messy days that seemed like they would never end. One thing after another seems to go wrong, and it feels like everything keeps piling up. It is in these times of chaos and stress that you will benefit the most from gratitude. It also turns out to be one of the hardest times to express gratitude.

But if you can get into the habit of finding something to be grateful for during these times, you’ll actually build resilience and work to maintain your positive outlook moving forward. One day something happened that would have been caused before a spiral of intense stress overtakes you because you have developed these important coping skills.

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Say positive affirmations (even if you don’t feel it)

A good habit to incorporate into your routine is to use affirmations every day, as these positive words of affirmation can help develop a positive mindset. If you’re having a tough day, find positive affirmations that really resonate with you at that moment and write them down or simply read them out loud. This very simple habit only takes a few minutes and makes a huge difference in how the rest of your day goes.

Accept that you can’t control everything

The final step to maintaining a positive attitude on a bad day is to come to a point of acceptance. Some things simply cannot be controlled or avoided. Some bad days are just bad days, and you need to feel grateful for everything that went well, appreciate your ability to get through it, and know that it won’t last forever.

Yell if you have to, but then promise to move on. You won’t let this stop you from adopting the positive attitude you’ve worked so hard to achieve. Everyone has bad days, that is just life. It’s how you deal with your “bad day” that makes the difference.

Header Photo by Alex Green