Image Map

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Putting bad days in perspective



A friend of mine posted this on Facebook recently and it really struck me. I realized I am very guilty of this mentality.

- Someone cuts me off in traffic.

- A customer calls and complains.

- I lose an arbitration hearing.

- A friend posts a hateful political meme.

- My favorite sports team loses.

- A coffee shop or restaurant messes up my order or takes too long to fill it.


Each of these events are things that consume mere minutes of my day and yet I can stretch them into an all-day dramatic affair. I can turn one negative moment into a terrible day. I basically turn into Alexander.


Ever since I saw this post, I've been more mindful when bad things happen to me. When I catch myself feeling grumpy or angry, I take a moment to identify what triggered the mood. Then I think about how long the actual event happened and whether it truly had any trickle down. More often than not, it did not. It was one isolated bad moment in an otherwise neutral or even good day. Then I work to get over whatever's bothering me.



Now, I'm not saying pity parties aren't allowed. They certainly are. Every now and then, I just have to have one to get the feelings out of my system.  But I'm trying to be more aware of how often these happen and make sure they're fully warranted.



1 comment:

  1. The Alexander book reference is just perfect.
    My 76 year old father-in-law lives with us. If there is a king of this mentality, he is it. I've found that often his negativity, actually fuels me to react in an opposite direction. It serves as a reminder to me to have perspective. Think of the bigger picture. There are so many worse things that could be happening than to let that bad 5 minutes ruin my day. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Pin It button on image hover