You forgot to set your alarm. It’s your first day back at work after a week’s holiday, you jump in the shower and have the quickest of washes – your hair will just need to wait until tomorrow. Out the shower you get, rub the moisturiser in and pull your clothes on hurriedly and head to the kitchen. You know you are going to be late, but you want to grab some toast as you are hungry. The toast pops, you spread it thick with butter and then boom whilst you grab it from your plate it falls to the floor and lands butter side down.
Of course it does. You let out a frustrated “ugh”, now you know it is going to be a bad day.
Stop right there – rewind. Ok, so you forgot to set your alarm. Easily done after having time off work, you are no longer in the routine and if like me, you forget to switch it off for the first few days, so it is understandable you forget to switch it back on. Don’t berate yourself for this, it is an easy thing to forget. Whilst you are in a hurry and won’t have your usual time for your morning routine, it is amazing how quickly you can get ready when needs must.
Let this go and laugh. Whilst you might not feel like laughing just yet. Think of the positives, you woke up before the time you were due to start work, you quickly showered and got ready. Great. Breakfast was a flop, however, it always happens when you are in a hurry and trying to do things quickly. That toast was always going to fall butter side down and whilst annoying it is funny. Don’t let this cloud your day and allow negativity to enter.
Think of the thousands upon thousands of days you have gone through your morning routine and all has gone to plan. We are striving to be perfect but we are living and these things happen. Would you really want to live every day the same? No, this has given you a wee kick to shake things up for you.
If a few things go wrong as your day is beginning, take a deep breath in. Starting your day with a negative attitude and an expectation everything else will go wrong, will only lead to an exhausting, disappointing and self fulfilling day of negative experiences. Stop.
What you do next will set you up for the day. Clean the butter up, sweep up the crumbs and smile. Here are three things to think about when your day doesn’t go to plan:
- Slow down – this could be the universe’s way of telling you to slow things down. Yes you are running late and slowing down isn’t going to help. But maybe it will. Would the toast have fallen on the floor if you hadn’t been rushing? Another example could be you forgot about a project plan or task at work that was due or you may have missed your reminder. Rushing seems like the only option, however, stop and make a plan, take some notes and then start. Jumping into it may seem like the only option, however, you could end up having to re do it if it is not carefully thought out. Take a moment and think things through.
- Shake up your routine – life is throwing you a curve ball and you need to find a way to ride it out. There is always an opportunity for either a do over or a lesson learnt scenario. So you didn’t set your alarm – no big deal – next time you will as you don’t want to be rushing around. But it may also give you an idea for a new alarm or buying an actual alarm clock rather than using your phone. Or if you love a checklist, you could create the ‘return to work checklist’ which you can pull out as and when you need it and at the top could be ‘set alarm’. With all this happening you may have realised you don’t need to get up as early as you thought if you can do everything in a shorter amount of time – albeit it rushed. But maybe an extra 15 minutes in bed wouldn’t do you any harm.
- Smile – even a fake one can make you smile for real. Give it a go. You might feel like the worst has happened, but has it really? Smile and don’t let the bad day in. You can do this, regardless of what comes your way. Look in a mirror, smile and tell yourself, “life is good, I can do this, one small thing does not a bad day make”.
Focusing on the three points above can help you to reframe your “bad” start to the day. It will help you to let go and drop the negativity surrounding it. A few obstacles may be in your path but it wont stop you from getting on with your day, after all you want to enjoy each day to the max.
Have a very happy day and hope your week goes well.
Take care and look after you.
Love Emma xx
Wellbeing with Relaxing Lavender 