Emotional level: 6

Mental level: 7

TODAY I LEARNED: Horseshoe crabs have eyes on multiple parts of their body.

Today was a good day. In fact, it was a wonderful day! But yesterday, life definitely could have been better. Things didn’t exactly go as planned, but everything worked out in the end. It also doesn’t help that I’ve been sick. When you’re sick, life is just harder in so many ways.

Bad days are going to happen. They’re going to occur as epic and messy and there’s not really much you can do about it except conjure a smile and ride it like a wave.

But during these bad days, there are a few things you can do that make life better and just as many things that will make your bad day morph into a horrendous nightmare. It’s important to know the difference between the two and luckily, we as humans, usually do.

When I’m having a rough day, a few things that help me include: stepping away to take a breath, meditating, screaming into a pillow, (yes, I’ve done this), and doing something that gets my mind off the problem or problems.

Stepping away to take a moment to yourself and breathe is probably one of the best ways to reset your stress levels. Just slowly taking a deep breath allows your body and mind to relax, which makes sense. You get more oxygen to your brain and it allows you think more clearly.

Meditating is something we often can’t do during stressful situations due to circumstance or location, but even if you can’t get away and have a 10 minute session of meditating, you can still try your best to bring yourself into the present moment wherever you may be until you get the chance to have a more focused session.

Screaming into a pillow sounds like something silly that people do in the movies to show how angry they are. Honestly, I say this with complete honesty, it feels really good. It’s not just a stereotypical way to display anger. If you’re feeling angry as hell, scream into a pillow. It relieves lots of stress points.

If you can, keeping yourself busy seems to be a sure-fire way to get your mind off a bad day. If you’re feeling up to it, cleaning or even just talking a walk can really break up the pesky thoughts that keep collecting in your mind. Don’t torture yourself and let them constantly cycle, asking yourself if you could have done something different. You can’t. It’s the past.

Sometimes none of these things really relieve the stress from a bad day, so you simply have to roll with the punches, take what life throws at you, and then try again tomorrow. Just remind yourself that you can try again tomorrow.

Blessed Be )O(