How to Recover from a Bad Day

Today I had a bad day. Like real bad. Like, I wanna crawl in a hole and not come out for a long time bad. It got me thinking about how important it is to know how to handle bad days when they come our way. After all, none of us are immune to the occasional (or frequent) bad day. It’s going to happen to us eventually, and sometimes no matter how hard we try to prevent it, we still have those days where it seems nothing can go our way. We’re all human. We all have ‘off’ days. So what do we do when one of those days comes along? How do we recover from a bad day? Learning how to deal with the not-so-great days is the best thing we can do for ourselves. It allows us to feel better mentally and emotionally and helps us to bounce back a lot quicker.
 
Below I’ve outlined my top tips to help you recover from bad days like these. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Each of us has different ways of coping and healing, and it’s important that you find what works for you. This is just the method I have found that works best for me. If you feel stuck and completely unsure how to handle a bad day, take this list as a starting point.

 
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1. Embrace that it’s a bad day.

If you want to recover from a bad day, you first have to admit that it is indeed a bad day. 

There’s something so powerful about being able to say “today is a bad day and that’s okay. I should take today to be extra kind and loving to myself and give my body and mind what it needs to get through this.”
 
Don’t fight it. Instead, allow yourself to feel the bad day happening, and take it as an opportunity to give yourself a break.
 
It’s easy to let bad days bum us out. But the problem with that is that we get in our heads about it, stress ourselves out more, and oftentimes we end up having more and more bad days because of it.
 
Giving ourselves time to heal and recover is crucial to our well-being.
 
So next time you get struck with a bad day, say hello and welcome it with open arms.
Let yourself feel it. Let yourself experience it. And then you can let it go.
 
 

2. Find your comfort zone.

 
Wait, doesn’t everyone usually say to get out of your comfort zone? Yeah usually. 
 
But ignore that. Just for today.
 
I agree, inside of a comfort zone is no place to live. Life begins outside of it, isn’t that the saying?
 
But sometimes we just need a day to find our cozy place, curl up and just let ourselves breathe.
I’m a big believer that rest and relaxation go a long way when it comes to mental health.
 
If you want to recover from a bad day, find that comfort zone, curl up back into it, and let yourself relax as much as possible!
 

3. Amp up the self-care.

 
If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know I’m a big supporter of self-care.
If you haven’t read any of my other posts, I’ll tell you now, I’m a big supporter of self-care.
 
I believe we need self-care every day, but even extra on bad days.
 
Usually bad days come with a big dose of emotion, whether that be sadness, anxiety, anger, hopelessness, etc. Taking a few extra moments to treat ourselves can really help us to find some balance again.
 
Think of it this way. If you’re not feeling well physically one day, you likely will do something that day to help yourself feel better. You might take some medicine, or give yourself a little extra rest, maybe even call in sick to work.

We need to take the same approach when we don’t feel well mentally. Give yourself extra rest and find some source of comfort and healing so that you can feel better.

Feeling unsure of how to practice self-care? Here are a few ways anyone can practice self-care, even in a busy schedule.  Or, check out this book which is FULL of self-care ideas.
 

4. Take the ‘bad’ out of your bad day.

The fourth way to recover from a bad day is to simply make it a little less of a bad day. 

It’s kind of hard to relax if we have a million to-dos and we keep taking on new tasks. Learning to say ‘no’ to certain situations can help us find the time we need to heal our minds.
 
While it isn’t always possible to just throw away our obligations, we can sometimes find ways to minimize the exhausting part of it.

Have to go grocery shopping, but you’d rather stay in and watch a movie and cry? Try having your groceries delivered instead.

Have dinner with a friend planned, but you’re just not feeling up to it? See if they can reschedule. Your loved ones will have your best interest in mind, and there’s no shame in saying, “I need to take some time for myself tonight, can we do this a different day?”
 
Finding ways to take the stress out of a bad day can really help us heal quicker and easier.
 

5. Let it all out.

 
Sometimes bad days are just a heap of things going wrong. Other times, though, bad days may simply be a result of all of the stress and anxiety building up within us, and then it reaches a point where it’s too much to handle.
 
Finding ways to let this stress out is crucial.
 
Something as simple as journaling, or calling a friend, or even just letting out a good cry can help us to release the stress and get the weight off of our shoulders.
 
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, there’s a pretty good chance you may be holding onto something you need to let go of.
 
So let it out girl, let it allllllll out.
 

6. Find the light at the end of the tunnel.

 
Okay, so you’ve done it. You’ve accepted that it’s a bad day, you’ve found comfort, you’ve given yourself some much-needed self-care, and you’ve let go of all of the stress and emotions. Now it’s time to look forward.
 
Once you’ve given yourself a chance to rest and feel rejuvenated, the only thing left to do is find some inspiration so that tomorrow can be a better day.
 
Your emotions and mind have been through the wringer today, so find something that can make you feel happy and motivated and inspired.
 
Make a list of what you’re excited about in the coming days, make a vision board, watch a movie that makes you feel hopeful.
 
Find something that can help bring you out of the darkness you may be in.
 
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a bad day here and there- hey, you’re human!
 
But there’s no fun in having bad day after bad day after bad day. So use this as an opportunity to set yourself up for better days ahead.
 
 
 
I hope that this post helped you, inspired you, and helped you remember that you aren’t alone. We all have bad days, all of us. There’s no way to avoid them or really even to prevent them entirely. But we can learn how to recover from them and use them to our advantage.
Being able to cope with the unpredictable things that come our way is such a superpower.
 
Next time you’re having a bad day, I hope you can come back here, take a peek at this post and find ways that help you get through it!
 
Have a tip for how you get through your bad days? Drop it below in the comments!!!
 
Have a great week my friends!