What To Do When You’re Having A Bad Week

What do you do when you’re having a “bad week” and you’re feeling de-motivated? When things aren’t going to plan or maybe you can’t find the energy to follow through with your plans.

We filter our life around what we say is true, so if you say you’re having a bad day or a “bad week” then you will subconsciously look for reasons why you’re having a bad time and ignore all the reasons which don’t prove this to be true. Therefore you don’t notice all the good things happening, you don’t follow through with your plans and you create more and more evidence that you’re having a day week which creates more negative feelings. You want to prove to yourself that you’re not making things up and you are in fact having a bad week, therefore you act from a place of feeling discouraged and disheartened.

I’m not saying you need to sugarcoat everything, of course, some days are worse than others, but everything is open to interpretation, and it’s all down to your thoughts. After all, your thoughts create your feelings and your feelings create your actions. In today’s post, I’m sharing my advice on what you can do to get out of a “bad week” and get yourself back on track. I hope you find it helpful!

Do something nice for someone

When you’re having a “bad day” or a “bad week”, the last thing you probably want to do, is do something nice for someone else, because let’s face it you’re not in a very good mood! But doing something nice for someone else is one of the most effective ways to improve your mood. It can be something small such as paying someone a compliment, offering your seat or holding the door open for someone.

Take your mind elsewhere

My second point was going to be to journal, as I personally find writing very therapeutic. But then I thought about what other people might find therapeutic, and that might be running, cooking, singing, dancing, drawing, knitting and so on. Whatever activity it is that allows your mind to escape the mental drama in your head and focus solely on the activity at present, do that. Let your mind rest and do something it loves.

Treat yourself

Is your “bad week” a symptom of being burnt out from work? Do you feel like you’re constantly doing things to please other people and you haven’t had time to treat yourself? Many of us feel burned out by our jobs and the high expectations which they place upon us, with most jobs now expecting their employees to always be available outside of office hours. When you’re an employee working for someone else, it can sometimes leave us feeling overwhelmed and stressed if we’re not dedicating enough time to yourself. Put yourself in a better mood by treating yourself and satisfying your needs, it might be as small as a trip to the cinema, a takeaway or dining out instead of cooking, treating yourself to new clothes or a manicure.

Rest

Every situation is neutral until we label it, you’ve labelled this week as a “bad week” and this might be because of a number of factors but it could also be because you need to rest. No one holds you to such high standards as you do and it’s okay to give yourself a break. We’re all guilty of setting ourselves ridiculously high standards but when you don’t have time for self-care, this is when you need it the most. Give yourself permission to rest and allow yourself to recharge.

Change scenery

When you’re feeling most stressed, where are you? Are you at work? In your office chair? Can you change the scenery? A quick change of scenery, even if it is getting off the office or house every lunch time can greatly improve your mood

Change your thoughts

Everything is open to interpretation and every situation is neutral until we label it, and in this case, until we label it a good or “bad week”. When you tell yourself that you’re having a bad day, you will create feelings to reflect this thought and then actions to mirror these negative thoughts. Because your thoughts create your feelings and your feelings create your actions.

A great way to change your thoughts from negative to positive is to use affirmations. I use to think that affirmations were kind of lame and I felt a little weird using them, but they actually work. If you’re in a negative mindset or if you’re feeling like you’re going to have a bad day before your day has even begun then that’s the time to use affirmations. Saying positive statements to yourself out loud will help shift your mind into a completely different and positive perspective.

How do you turn around a bad week? Comment below!