Bad days usually lead to catastrophic thought patterns. It’s important on bad mental health days to not let the bad day color your entire picture of your life at that given point. There are best practices for those bad days, those days where the world seems out to get you, or nothing can go right.
Those best practices are first, to write at least three things that have gone right. It could be a great lunch or you made a good presentation at work, anything that changes the bad day into at least three good events. Our brains are wired to focus on the negative, so it’s important to not let the bad day consume every thought about your life.
Second, do something you love. Whether that is a hobby or a creative endeavor. Whatever makes you happy will rid yourself of the negative thoughts. For me, it’s picking up my guitar and writing a song or practicing the latest technique my guitar teacher has given me to learn.
Thirdly, go out into nature. Nothing soothes the soul like a great walk in the park. Now that’s it summer and weather permitting, it’s a good day to get lost in foliage and reconnect with the earth, in whatever way you deem necessary. There’s a trail near my house that I walk regularly with accompanying music. It does re-center yourself.
Fourth, meditation or grounding techniques allow you to reconnect to your body and not get lost in thought patterns that do you no favors. Grounding techniques are usually those that keep you focused on your body.
Meditation techniques are those that focus on breathing and goal setting for that time. Instead of allowing your thought patterns to get lost in that a bad day could turn into a whole week, it’s best to reconnect with your body’s basic functions, which are breathing and grounding exercises.
There are lots of techniques, but the best thing to do is to recognize that most feelings in life are fleeting and that it’s best to not get caught up in them. Bad mental health days is like tearing a page off the calendar. They are one of many.
It’s important to note that life can’t be all good and can’t be all bad. That there is some equilibrium. So, do the things you love, reconnect to nature, meditate and ground your thinking, and remember those good things you may have forgotten in the litany of catastrophic thinking.
