Maybe not…

I was having a bad day the other day.  I know – surprise right?  No one else ever has a bad day.  I’m the only one.  LOL!  Well, maybe not… 

My bad day was one of those particularly frustrating ones where everything seemed to be going wrong.  Been there done that yourself, I bet.  I was going down that path of gloom thinking, I couldn’t; I never could; I never will; I’m not good enough; I’m not loved; I’m not even liked; and other discouraging thoughts.  I don’t like going to that dark place.  Maybe you never do.  Maybe not. 

It’s easy to have a hard day I suppose.  Afterall, we seem to be surrounded by lots of negativity; daily news; the stock market; social media; weather reports; my Chicago Cubs.  It can’t help but have an impact: 

… research shows that our mindset is under constant assault by an avalanche of negativity… An NIH study recently revealed that on a typical day we experience about 60,000 thoughts.  80%, or 48,000 of our thoughts are negative. 

Gerhard Gschwandtner 

Your thinking is different you say?  Great if that’s the case.  But… maybe not. 

Being the problem solver that I am I tried to think of a way to avoid these feelings before having my next bad day.  Maybe I could even think up a way to avoid having another bad day ever again.  Here’s what I came up with: 

1.  Don’t try so hard.
2.  Don’t try new things.
3.  Don’t meet new people.
4.  Don’t love.
5.  Don’t try to learn.
6.  Don’t buy anything new.
7.  Don’t invest.
8.  Don’t leave home.
9.  Don’t look to the future.
10.  Don’t try to enjoy the present. 

Think my list will work?  Maybe not.  Perhaps I’m not quite the problem solver I thought I was. 

Not wanting to give up, I thought hard about the last time I was perfectly happy and carefree.  I mean, logic is powerful, yes?  Well maybe not: 

Manley's Maxim 

Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence. 

              Unknown Sage 

Turns out the last time I actually had no bad days was a long, long time ago: 

When in your entire life were you the most comfortable?  In the womb.  Now that’s security.  Your own pool, all the food you could possibly want, and no taxes.                              

Tom Hopkins 

So much for that idea.  Maybe I thought, I can use my experience to do a better job of controlling what happens to me throughout each day.  I mean, I’ve succeeded in business and in sales; I’m a good planner; I don’t get lost when driving home from the office (anymore); and I can even find my car in the parking lot (most times).  Then I remembered what Harlan Cleveland suggested: 

If you try too carefully to plan your life, the danger is that you will succeed – succeed in narrowing your options, closing off avenues of adventure that cannot now be imagined.           

So over controlling?  Maybe not.  

I guess I’ll just have to face reality.  That’s what you do, don’t you?  Face reality?  In the real world, not every day is going to be a blue sky and sunshine day: 

Law of Life's Highway: 

If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.                            

Unknown Sage

 

No, maybe not.  I think I will just have to look for the good even when I’m having a bad day.  You? 

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.