I know that rough days are going to happen no matter what. Sometimes days just don’t go as planned, and days that everything is overwhelming. It’s important not to fall into a mental pit of despair. We have to keep picking ourselves up and push forward every day. There will be good days again and lots of them. There will be bad days again and lots of them. When we are having those bad days it’s important to have those strategies to keep working towards positivity. The more that you are able to push through those days the better and better your mental health will become.
Fake it till you make it
It may not feel like the best option when your struggling being positive. When I say fake it, I don’t mean try to convince everyone else that you’re okay when you aren’t. I mean telling your own self that you can find positive things and hold on to them. You may have a horrible day that everything around you feels like it is crumbling down. But you find that one silver lining and hold on to it. Make that silver lining the most important thing in your day. Hold on to the good things that are in your daily like. Even if they are small and simple things, they are still there and exist. Only you can find those little things. Only you can convince yourself to pick up the good pieces and run with them.
Make positivity lists
It’s always a good practice to make lists and write things down. When you are struggling the most to be positive, it means even more to make a tangible list. Find all the blessing that you have every day. Even if the lists start as simple as I have a roof over my head, I have a job, I have family, I have health. These are things that we take granted a lot of the time. However, if we didn’t have them, it would be something we would crave the most. Put those things onto paper and be able to refer to them when you have a tough day. Keep adding more things to the list as you think of them.
Do something for someone else
There is something really powerful that happens when we really focus on someone else. For some reason, when we stop focusing on our problems and focus on helping someone else, something shifts. We shift. For some reason it is so much easier to think of solutions or comfort for other people than for ourselves. Do you have a family member or a friend who needs a listening ear or some company? Maybe setting up a surprise with friends or treats to help someone feel loved. I know that just recently I was having a hard week myself. But when I found out someone that I loved had been having an even harder week, I wanted to help. I spent half the week doing things with them and planning to get together with others they loved. I spent so much time trying to make sure that every minute was a good minute for that person. By the end of the week, I felt so uplifted and looked back at the whole week with a lot of good memories.
Make easy goals
Going back to making lists. However, this is a little bit of a different list. I think it is a great way to be positive if you make short term attainable goals. If the goals need to be things that you can easily accomplish in a day, that’s okay! Sometimes we just need to be able to cross things off a list and be able to see that things have been accomplished. Speaking of starting off with easy simple lists. Get out of bed, get dressed, eat breakfast. All simple easy things that you can check, check, check off down the list.
Meditate
Meditation can look different for different people. Meditation is most commonly thought of as breathing and clearing the mind. However, for some it may be prayer. I hope for better things. For projecting good thoughts and hoping for the universe to reciprocate. However, taking those moments to really clear the mind and relax can center you. Bring things back into perspective for yourself. Make sure you are making decisions that are the best decisions for you. When you meditate it changes stewing about things going on to finding the right solutions and avenues that you should take.
What are the ways that you try to stay positive? What do you do when you are having a rough day to turn it around?
Mel's Health and Fitness 