There is a day in Copenhagen with my family I’ll never forget. The day started out beautifully. A sunny 60-degree morning, as we went biking by the lakes. Enjoying the lovely day, I thought how blessed I was for this amazing memory. We stopped to have the most amazing mushroom ravioli. It was so delish even Ayaan gobbled it down.
In a blink of an eye, the beautiful morning went from Ohhh beautiful day to “Oh- Mylanta!”
The gray clouds poured in dropping rain, we rushed inside and of course, Ayaan had a poopy diaper at a restaurant that had a bathroom that was the size of a small closet (and no changing table- of course).
Ayaan balled bloody murder as I laid him on the ground trying to change his diaper. Rolling around, poo all over my hands and feeling suffocated next to a dirty toilet and a door I felt helpless, out of control and impatient.
In a matter of 60 seconds, what went from a calm, mindful day went to one where I felt angry and impatient. It could have very well ruined my entire day. I was heated and upset.
How could this perfect day have such a big hiccup? I felt guilt for feeling impatient and allowing myself to get so disheveled. I definitely forgot to BREATHE in that moment.
I handed bare butted Ayaan to Chirag and of course, Chirag took over and Ayaan didn’t move or make a peep. Well of course cause Chirag’s energy didn’t match my funky energy.
But how do we prevent letting unshakeably, annoying and “bad” moments ruin our mood for the entire day?
Follow along with these three steps to help you deal with an unpleasant moment so it doesn’t ruin your entire day.
1.Acknowledge
After we have a bad moment we can get in the pattern of dwelling and overthink about it. This is a sign that you haven’t dealt with the core issue of the problem to release it.
It’s important to acknowledge how you feel and give yourself 5 minutes to fully feel the fury of your anger, annoyance. Set a timer and just allow all the emotions and feelings out. If you are like me and you’ve been taught to repress uncomfortable emotions, journaling to release my feelings has helped a lot.
I start in my journal with “I feel angry about…” and then start writing. Just write out the feeling you are experiencing and why you feel that way.
2. Affirm
To change your mood you have to consciously shift your mindset and tell yourself a new story.
I like the following: “I totally had a shitty moment but that doesn’t mean I have to have a shitty day. Universe: please show me how to move through this and clearly learn the lesson I’m meant to learn.”
3. Allow
I look at every experience as a test. I knew that I failed my test this time but that meant I would be tested on the same thing again. I actually INVITE whatever future test to come my way. I know the situation will be different but I trust myself that I’ll be more prepared the next time.
That’s exactly what happened. We were in Amsterdam and a similar situation happened. We went to a restaurant for dinner and them didn’t’ have a high chair but of course Ayaan had a full diaper. We had to change his diaper in a bathroom (you guessed it) that was a similiar dinky-sized closet like in Copenhagen.
This time we nailed the test. My lesson was that sometimes things are better done as a team, then alone. So Chirag and I tag teamed it and we nailed it!!
Now I’d love to hear from you.
How do you personally prevent a bad day from ruining your mood for the rest of the day?
Share as much detail as possible in your reply. There are tons of other mamas who will be inspired by your words and experience.
Remember life is filled with great and not so great moments. These moments don’t define our lives. Our attitude on how we roll with each moment is what determines whether we have a good day and good life.
Thanks so much for reading, sharing and adding your inspiration to our conversation. You make my world a better place.
With so much love,
Thank you for this great post Tejal! I came across it at the perfect time as there have been a few days recently when a small event torpedoed the rest of the day. One trick that works well for me, when I remember to use it, is that if I can just get myself to breath deeply in the moments where I am beginning to physically feel flustered, anxious and impatient I am almost always able to “ride the wave,” and get myself back to baseline without letting my entire day get ruined. It’s just a matter of getting myself to remember those deep breathes in the moment that can be the challenge. I have actually used one of the tools you taught me to help remind myself to breath. I’ll put a blue dot on my hand so that during the day when I look down and see it I get a quick reminder to b…r…e…a…t…h…:) It has helped a lot! I think incorporating the journaling for me would be great so I ‘m going to try putting that into practice! Thank you for the guidance!
Thanks for your lovely words of wisdom Michelle!! You are so right remembering to come back to the breathe is so key. One of the greatest things I learned from this is when things are really going smoothly, don’t try to hold on to them so hard. Because they are naturally suppose to fade away and who knows the next second can feel like a volcano erupted in your gut.
I’m definitely try to learn just take it moment by moment instead of expect “days” to be good or bad. It’s a good moment but the very next could be a challenging one but the very next one could be good one again =)
Thanks so much for always taking the time to share your honest feedback. I always enjoy reading it!