How to Get Through Your Day when You’re Sad, Tired, or Just Not Feeling Well

Bad days happen to the best of us. There are days when we wake up feeling sad, or tired, or in a really bad mood.  There are days when something (or even nothing) has you feeling weepy, angry, sad, frustrated, disappointed, or just plain miserable. 

Not much fun is it?  Luckily, there’s lots you can do to turn around a bad day. 

Accept Your Bad Mood
During a day of sadness or despair, you don’t have to deny or pretend that life isn’t painful. You don’t have to minimalize what you are feeling.  There’s nothing worse than being in a bad mood while trying to pretend that everything’s fine.  Pushing down or denying sadness adds guilt to the experience, and leads to ignoring your needs for self-care. Acceptance of the situation allows you to take a breath, and take care of yourself in ways that are helpful. 

Decide to Persevere
Make a conscious choice to persevere through the day. Tell yourself that this happens to everyone, and as bad as it seems, it can’t last forever. The first step to overcoming a sad day is to realize that just because you feel horrible right now, doesn’t mean it will be that way tomorrow. 

Slow Down and Relax
Sometimes those sad, sick, lonely, or tired moments are a sign to slow down and reflect a little bit. Instead of running out the door in the morning, or escaping into the television at night, take a little time—even if it’s just a few minutes—to breathe, enjoy a cup of hot tea, read something inspirational, and listen to soothing music. Fill your physical senses with as much comfort and beauty as you can. 

Express Yourself
A common tendency is to push down uncomfortable feelings while hoping they’ll go away on their own. However, pushing down your emotional state is neither healthy nor your speediest course to feeling better. What does work is giving your emotions and feelings expression. This doesn’t mean looking around and finding someone or something to blame your emotions on. There’s no need to “fix” your mood, or even uncover the reason why you’re feeling bad. Who knows, maybe you slept badly, or you’re coming down with the flu. What’s important is that you give expression to what you’re feeling. Talking honestly to someone about what you’re going through, or writing your experience in a journal frees up some of the energy of those heavy emotions and helps you get back into the flow of things. 

Radical Self-Care
Sometimes, nothing really helps, except getting through it. And one of the best ways to “get through it” is to take radical care of yourself right now, when you need it most. If you’re having a really bad day, it may be a good idea to withdraw for a short time if you can. Take a walk in nature. Sit outside in the sunshine. Take a warm bath. If you’re at work, consider going home early or giving yourself a mental health day. Look inside yourself and engage in the actions that bring comfort.

Everyone occasionally experiences a terrible mood. Even if you’ve somehow found yourself in a terrible funk, that doesn’t mean you can’t pull through and recover. Even the smallest action can sometimes change our perspective and begin to turn things around. 

Above are just a few of the many ways to successfully handle a bad day. What’s your experience? How do you get yourself through those days where the sun just doesn’t seem to be shining for you? Take a few minutes and share your tips with us in the comments section below.  We’d love to hear your best ideas for handling a bad day!

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Tagged as: bad day, cope with depression, depressed, how to feel better, how to handle a bad day, sad day