So this morning, I got to wake up to the sounds of my cat under the bed. Puking. Doesn't that sound lovely?
And my two year old has discovered that she enjoys jumping on the bed. The only real problem with that is she usually gets my hair caught beneath her toes. My husband has been working overtime all week, so he's not around to help much.
Twisted my ankle on the way to the kitchen only to learn that I'm out of coffee.
This is how my day started out. So imagine how much better it got when I sat down in front of my laptop, with my hot tea, and couldn't get it to power on because my dog had chewed through the cord to the charger? Not only that but the original blog post I had written and was going to post today is gone. Gone. Just gone.
And did I mention that my dog decided to catch an attitude about going outside in the rain? Meaning I got to clean up her puddle, too! And don't even get me started on all the news, hateful status updates, and fighting happening all over social media right now.
Great start to my day, right?
Thankfully, there is one exercise I can do to turn my day completely around. I mean completely turn it around before the bad morning wrecks my day. And it's so easy, anyone can do it.
Smile.
That's it.
Not a sarcastic smile, not a smirk, and definitely not a fake smile.
A real, genuine smile.
You see, I'm sick and tired of seeing people who are having a bad day to “just think positive.”
Pffft. It's a nice thought, but in the end “just think positive” doesn't really do anything. It's not going to turn things around. It doesn't even tell you how to turn anything around. If nothing positive has happened so far today, how can you possibly be expected to focus on it? Empty piece of unhelpful advice, that is.
Smiling, on the other hand, helps. Go ahead and try it right now. Close your eyes, take in a deep breath, and smile.
Then just hold that smile. Hold it. Do whatever you have to do to hold it.
Now, can you feel what's happening here? Forcing yourself to hold that smile actually makes it easier for you to find something to smile about. It forces your mind to seek out and focus on something that will hold that smile. Hold it for as long as you need. Looking around when you're in the middle of a bad day and angry, you'll have a much harder time trying to find something to be happy about.
Working from home often means having to force ourselves to turn a bad day around — and fast. Or that bad day can really drag us down. But the next time you feel your day slipping over into a bad day, try it. Take a minute and smile, then hold it for at least 30-60 seconds and see how much better you feel.
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