Last weekend and Monday of this week sucked. On Saturday I felt tired and out of sorts for no good reason whilst alone with all 3 children for the best part of the day, as Adam was playing in a football tournament. Arlo was poorly, resulting in me umming and aahing and deciding last minute to not go to a 40th birthday party I’d been looking forward to for ages (serious FOMO right there). I was still in a funk on Sunday even after a lie in. I went to the gym to try and exercise myself better, and whilst on the cross trainer my eyes ‘went’ and I developed a migraine. We didn’t then go out for the Indian meal we’d been looking forward to as a family. On Monday I still felt whacked and then post-school run developed another aura migraine whilst simultaneously trying to have a conference call and lob rice cakes in the direction of the baby to keep him quiet. I was grumpy and snappy with the kids for no reason later that day before bed. All in all a sh*tty few days.
When you have days like these it’s easy to put your head under the pillow and have a good cry (It actually SO helps!), and I know my rubbish few days are nowhere near as bad as many, many other people’s bad few days, I’m well aware of that. But however great your life usually is, we all have times when we want to bury ourselves under the duvet and feel pretty pants.
No one is entitled to a stress-free life, whatever your circumstances, it’s just the way the world works.
However, in situations like these I realise I need to TRY and do a few different things, in order to reset the inner-thermostat, so to speak:
- If I’ve had a bad day/experience, can anything be learned from it?
Well, without wishing to sound negative, often the answer is a big fat ‘NO’. Life isn’t always about learning a lesson or having a magic epiphany, you just have to chalk it up to experience and accept that you have good days, average days and bad days. For a perfectionist like me, this can be hard sometimes! Kids play up, the most organised of people sometimes forget little things, stuff happens out of our control.
- Prioritise self-care
Okay, so I know this a bit of a ‘phrase-of-the-moment’, but it’s true. If I’m heading into crappy funk territory, often it’s because I haven’t been looking after myself- whether that’s bad diet, no exercise, awful sleep, drinking too much wine etc. I try and rectify all this plus allow to time to unwind properly with a book or favourite TV show and just lying down and breathing.
- Appreciate stuff, however small
This is why I try and do my ’10 Things…’ posts and I did one on Monday even though I didn’t feel great- you’re allowed to wallow a bit but then it’s always good to see the positives in every day life and realise that things aren’t actually that bad (even if the baby did sick in your mouth- true story).
- Look at the bigger picture
My weekend was a stressful few days in an otherwise happy life. We are all happy and generally healthy, with a roof over our heads, jobs we enjoy and a nice home- it all counts for a lot!
What do you do when life gets stressful in big or small ways?
How do you keep it all in perspective even when you feel dreadful?!
