Do you ever have one of those days where things are just not going your way? You slept through your alarm, rush out of bed, stub your toe, hop to the bathroom on one foot to discover that you’re out of toothpaste, end up rushing into whatever plans you’ve laid for the day but carrying these feelings of angst and anxiety with you and ultimately have a…really… bad… day.

It’s easy to let one wrong thing spiral into a rabbit hole of negativity, and once we get started noticing the things that aren’t going right, it seems like an avalanche of dung gets dumped on you over and over and over again. Nobody likes this feeling, but few know what steps to take to reset, reboot, and restart once they are inundated with the feelings of frustration that come along with those moments when things aren’t going their way.

I had one of those days recently; I woke up with a long laundry list of things to do on my calendar and from the minute that I woke up, it seemed like I was jumping from one task to the next, with barely the time to catch my breath at all throughout the entire day. As a result of feeling rushed to finish one task in order to meet the next task on time and prepared, I ended up not being present whatsoever in ANY task, which prohibited me from doing my best at anything I was trying to accomplish, and nothing on my calendar that day felt completed in a quality that was fulfilling.

When we find ourselves in days like these, where the moments and stresses pile up around us and on top of us, here’s a couple of things we can do to make it a little more bearable. Instead of complaining and continuing… STOP! Even when we don’t think we have a moment to spare, taking a three minute break to simply breathe deeply with our eyes closed can save us a lot of frustration in the hours to come. Breath connects us to our body and eases our mind. It’s amazing what breathing deeply can actually do for the body and mind, for health and clarity. Sometimes this easy slowing down process can reset your day and put you on a new track.

Another thing you can do is ask yourself “What is it that this is teaching me?” I know there are plenty of moments you can look back on in your life and see the life lessons that came hidden in the ‘challenges’. In the midst of the worst day, instead of complaining about it, shift your attention, reframe your thoughts and simply accept that maybe this horrible day COULD be holding a valuable lesson that could eventually help you in becoming a better version of yourself.

Finally, celebrate the power of surrender. We are so conditioned to believe that success means “take the bull by the horns”, and when days aren’t going as we’d like them to, we try to take control and manipulate the situation until it looks just like we’d planned it out in our day planner. Sometimes the best thing you can do is say “You know what? I had a plan but it’s not working and I surrender to creative possibilities that maybe a power beyond my own can work something out better than my plans had involved!”