Turn A Bad Mental Health Day Around With These Tips

Not all days were created equal. If you’re fortunate enough to live a long life, then the probability of having a terrible day quickly approaches one hundred percent. So if we accept that bad days are inevitable, can we mitigate that badness? Is it possible to learn how to turn a bad mental health day around?

Absolutely! But nobody said it was easy.

“I am very poorly today & very stupid & I hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.”

Charles Darwin

How Do You Turn A Bad Mental Health Day Around? 

In order to cope better than Mr. Darwin could, it means marking a complete shift in how you approach your challenges, pain points, and even failure. There’s certainly a place for processing your feelings, licking your wounds, and taking a step back, but if you want to salvage what has to that point been a bad day, it requires a more proactive approach.

• Question All-Or-Nothing Thinking. Black and white thinking can make it hard to see the silver lining amidst the storm clouds. You can fight back against your all-or-nothing thinking by identifying your all-or-nothing attitudes, talking back to them, and just generally by practicing your DBT skills. Always remember that more than one thing can be true.
• Focus On The Present. When we have bad experiences, it’s in our nature as human beings to want to dwell on them, but this doesn’t always serve us. This urge for introspection has some merit, but it can turn against us when it takes the form of rumination and catastrophizing. You can start focusing on the present by grounding yourself with meditation, lighting some incense, or even just doing some physical exercise. 
• Find Gratitude. When times get tough gratitude can run in short supply, but your gratitude can be a great source of strength when you can muster it. Finding points of gratitude in our most challenging moments can help us see that there’s more to our lives than difficulty and discomfort.

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”

Cormac McCarthy

Therapy Tools For When You’re Having A Bad Day

All that philosophical stuff is great to ponder, but sometimes we need more than just food for thought. If you’re experiencing hardship and you want to make it better, these are the types of tools that a therapist might give you.

• Self-Soothing. Self-soothing isn’t just a coping skill you can learn about in therapy, it’s a good idea. When you self-soothe, that’s basically performing any activity that regulates your emotions. You can self-soothe by listening to your favorite music, engaging in exercise, or even just by eating some candy! It’s enjoyable by nature, so I can’t recommend it highly enough.
• Radical Acceptance. Denial can be an enticing defense mechanism on our darkest days, but denying reality can only take us so far. Practicing radical acceptance means that we accept the way things are, even if we don’t approve of them.
• DIY Art Therapy. Human beings have been processing their bad days through art as long as they’ve been making art. It feels good to channel the story of our lives into something of our own creation, and it also helps us process the subconscious thoughts and feelings we couldn’t consciously put to words.

“I can have as many bad days as anyone. But I choose to say, ‘I’m just fine.“

Mary J. Blige

 If you feel stuck on your healing journey, working with a therapist can help. Based on your needs, our intake specialist will help you get matched up with your perfect therapist. Click here to schedule a consultation.

Sunny Ebsary is an educator, multi-modal artist, and writer specializing in the intersection of myth and mental health. Sunny’s writing walks the line between poetic and logical, giving readers a chance to interface with the mind and imagination. Sunny’s been putting pen to paper since he was a child, writing everything from albums, novels, and plays, to essays, interactive games, and of course, many articles! While studying both psychology and writing, he realized his real passion in life was helping others unlock their creative spark. Whether he’s leading a D&D game, directing a production, or diving deep into the brain, you can be sure Sunny will be ushering you toward finding meaning in your life.