How to Survive a Bad Day – Stress Relief in 6 Simple Steps

 This week I had one of those days when my stars were crossed, my angels were on a coffee break and Murphy of “anything-that-can-go-wrong-will” thought he was my BFF.

I was travelling from Miami to Las Vegas. So exciting right? And yet, my thoughts were not, “So cool! Can’t wait. Great trip!” They were more like “When will this day end? Can I crawl into bed now?”

I am a naturally enthusiastic and positive person. It takes significant effort to shift me from my center. However on this particular Tuesday, the taxi for the airport was an hour late, we almost left my books and magazines on the plane, I ordered the wrong thing at Starbucks, and the hotel was out of king beds.

Here is what I did in the face of “wrong-side-of-the-bed-syndrome” and how you can apply what I did to almost any bad day.

1. Exercise Your Right To Remain Silent – While I was having the day from hell my dear loving husband was Mr. Enthusiasm and Light – excited we were travelling together after a week apart, happy to be going to Las Vegas, looking on the bright side for me. He was so comforting I truly wanted to marry him all over again. (This happens often in my house, we want to marry each other again at least once a week.)

So while I was not really feeling the expression of my highest and best self at that very moment, I made a decision not to rain on his parade. Instead of sharing (and thereby multiplying) my negative thoughts, I kept them to myself. I shared a bit of my frustration, so he knew I wasn’t at my best, but the tirade of “when will this day end?” was largely in my head.

2. Trust Your Intuition – As we were leaving the plane, I turned to the hubs in the middle of that long and bumpy line of people and said, “Did we check the seat pockets?” Suddenly I was absolutely sure I was missing something, although I had no idea what.

Thankfully the hubs is used to my intuitive bursts and we both stood aside, let everyone pass and went back to our seats. There we found the book I am in the middle of reading, multiple magazines and proof that trusting your intuition is always a good idea.

3. Request a Do-Over – There we were in the airport after a 6 hour flight. As we walked by a Starbucks I decided the most perfect thing in the world, right now, would be a Vanilla Crème. Warm milk. Vanilla. Cinnamon. Heaven. I asked the hubs to stop on the way to baggage claim. I placed my order for a Vanilla Bean, thinking it odd the name was different, but not odd enough to question it. (There is that intuition thing again.)

As it turns out, dear lovely Reader, a Vanilla Bean is a *cold* drink, like a Vanilla Icee. It is not to be confused with a Vanilla Crème which is a *warm* drink, and my own personal version of Heaven. You may not be able to fully imagine my dismay upon receiving this icy cold beverage, so let me just tell you, it was bad. I sincerely imagine it was what a dog feels like when you take away his bone.

I went over to the hubs and said, “I ordered the wrong thing. I can’t wait to crawl under the covers at the hotel.” My face must have been so sad that the hubs said, “Request a do-over, order again, get what you want.” (You see how I could have wanted to marry him all over again? Yup, happens all the time.)

So there I went, back in line, and this time asked the barista, do you have Vanilla Cream? Not to be confused with Vanilla Latte which is also warm but made with coffee – do not make the same mistakes I make dear readers. Please make new ones. Thank you.

I left Starbucks with a warm and delicious Vanilla Crème in my hands. And the hubs *loved* that icy cold Vanilla concoction.

4. Lay Low – Please do not make any life altering decisions when you are having a bad day. I didn’t have any to make on this lovely Tuesday, but if I did, I would have postponed them, re-arranged them or delayed them.

5. Ask For What You Need – When we finally arrived at our hotel in Las Vegas, the lovely Bulgarian girl at the check-in counter told us that even though we requested a King Sized Bed, there was none available and she would have to put us in a room with two queen beds. My hubby is 5’ 10” feet tall. I am 5’ 7”. If we are going to sleep comfortably together, a large bed is necessary. Otherwise our arms and legs turn into pretzels and a good night sleep turns into a fantasy.

We were at the MGM Grand. This is the third largest hotel in the world. It has over 4,000 rooms. I exercised my right to remain silent and kept my thoughts about the likelihood of that statement being accurate to myself. I took a few deep calming breaths and asked the girl if there was any possibility she could find a room with a king sized bed for us. She went to find her manager and several minutes later a miracle occurred and a room was found. Sweet dreams were had by all.

6. Learn From It – A day is never truly bad if you learned something from it. On this day, we learned that we both like to get to the airport early. For us it’s less stressful to be checked in and ready to fly well before the flight than to arrive with minutes to spare. We created a new family rule for how we travel and by what time we need to leave the house to keep to a stress-free travel schedule.

I also learned I can use these tools any time I am feeling stress or out of sorts. If I don’t have an immediate solution to my situation, I can at least turn to one or several of these tools and use them to minimize the damage of a bad day.

 

 

How do you relieve stress? Name one thing that helps you cope. Share in the comments.