When Bad Days Strike (And They Will...) Here's How I Turn The Day Around

When bad days happen, you can either run away and repress, or get curious and lean in. The prior might make you feel better in the short term, but the latter is what will help you build resilience, so bad days don't shake you quite so much.

I'm no stranger to both sides of the coin, and over the years, I'm happy to say I've learned and established a handful of healthy coping mechanisms that help light the way when the road appears dark. Because the truth is, bad days are bound to happen—but what really counts is how you choose to respond to them.

I'm a firm believer that nature is healing, and for what it's worth, research suggests it is too, with multiple studies1 showing that exposure to nature can help improve cognitive function, blood pressure, mental health, and sleep.

There's something about a breath of fresh air that's, well, refreshing—not to mention it gives you a change of scenery, a chance to get on your feet and take a walk, and a reminder of the vastness of the world we live in. (Hello, perspective!)

I don't think I've ever left a yoga class and not felt better, straight up. Bonus points if it's in a hot room, because there's something about sweating it out that's just so cathartic.

In fact, research on hot yoga2 has found it to be particularly effective in reducing negative-affect and state-anxiety in individuals who are under substantial stress in daily life—and I can personally attest to that.

With a yoga class and an outdoor stroll under my belt, I then give myself full permission to veg for the rest of the day. I'm talking feet up, favorite comforting meal on the coffee table, and my favorite sitcom on the TV. No guilt, no pressure to do anything else, just allowing myself to be.

As a person who believes in souls and the unseen energy fields we're all a part of, I also believe it's necessary to cleanse your energy when it's feeling heavy or stagnant. There are plenty of ways you can do that, but I've found visualization to be the most powerful for me.

One visualization I like involves imagining yourself in a bubble of pure light, which is clearing your energy field. You close your eyes and visualize yourself in that bubble, feeling the light purify and cleanse any heaviness, problems, tension, etc.

I've been big on tarot reading over the past five years or so, and while I have had some pretty magical, synchronistic moments pulling cards that were inexplicably on-the-nose, I also think it's just a great way to tap into your own intuition.

Each card in a tarot deck tells a story or represents an archetype—themes, qualities, and feelings we all experience. When you pull certain cards, it encourages you to figure out where your story aligns with the story in the card. In this way, you sometimes have to reframe the way you think about your situation to find the connection, and when you do find it, it's like, "A-ha! Why didn't I think of that?"

For example, if I were to do a tarot reading on a less-than-optimal day, I might ask, "What's bothering me?" or "Why do I feel so agitated?" Then, lo and behold, I pull the Five of Pentacles, which represents material or earthly struggles. It might seem bleak, but the card depicts two struggling people walking right by a shelter with the light on.

We all put our faith in different things, and those beliefs can color our perspectives and mindsets. When it comes to spirituality, faith, and religion, research shows3 that spiritual intelligence can significantly increase mental wellbeing and quality of life in young adults, and I've found this to be true myself.

While I don't identify with any particular religion now, I do have a strong faith-based belief system of my own that has resulted from being raised Christian, practicing yoga, studying Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as dipping into more esoteric, occult philosophies.

By the end of the day, once I've done all these things, I typically feel much better. There's still a chance, of course, that I might have some residual muck weighing me down—but either way, I know when it's time to pack it in and hope for a better day tomorrow.

In the past, I was heavily inclined towards bedtime procrastination as a way to reclaim a bad day for myself (by staying up late doing things I wanted to do), but that only resulted in groggy mornings and low energy the next day.