Bring your authentic self to work, leave your baggage at the door, keep it real, be positive, smile, don’t be negative… all things we should do, others should do, or that people tell us to do. So, how can we accomplish all of this? We all have bad days, so how do we take the edge off of a bad day when we have to face others? Here’s a list to help keep that bad day from spiraling downward and some tips on how to let some rays of sunshine in on a cloudy day whether you’re at work, a planned event, or a family activity.
 
Write it Down
Sometimes a recent event or conversation is on my mind and it’s eating me up. I replay the conversation in my mind over and over and imagine what I should have said and what they could have said. When we need to communicate effectively and we haven’t taken the time to actually do it, we should take a few minutes to write down what happened and detail our feelings just to get it out of our minds. You can journal something to yourself or draft an email to the person. If you draft an email, wait a few hours or until you’ve cooled off enough to reread, ensure it is professional, and then send it. This often helps me to get it out of my head and keeps me from replaying it over…and over…and over. 
 
Laughter
We’ve all heard that “laughter is the best medicine” and oh how I believe that, plus this article from the Mayo Clinic adds support as well. If you don’t feel the laughter naturally billowing out of you, you can search for laughter. Listen to a podcast or search for stand-up comics or check out the Comedy Central channel on YouTube. I love to search for video clips of LL Cool J’s Lip Sync Battle; it cracks me up. 
 
Music
Play a song, in the car, while you are driving, that you know ALL the words to, something not depressing, and sing it LOUDLY. I love to do this to 90s hip-hop. You could create a play list that has songs that make you feel good to have at hand when you need a little boost.
 
Find Your Positive People
I know which friends I can count on to have a pity party with me and which are the friends I should talk to that have a sympathetic ear and will “lift me up” when I’m feeling down. Find the people that lift you up. On your bad days, stay away from the people that are always negative, gossiping, or finding fault in situations. when you're having a bad day, it's harder to have the strength to keep other's negativity in perspective.
 
Fill a “Bucket”
When my kid was in Transitional Kindergarten, she came home and told me that someone filled her bucket when she had no one to play with during recess, and I had no idea what she was talking about. So she told me all about the book they read in class, “ How Full is Your Bucket?”. The moral of the story is that if we do something good for others, they feel better AND we feel better. Do something nice; hold a door open, give a smile, compliment someone. Not only will that person feel good, but you will also feel good. 
 
Long Story Short…
We all have days when we feel grumpy, tired, and frustrated, and we just push through the day to get through it. Our work mates, friends, and family all face a bad day from time to time, so saying “everything is fantastic” when someone asks how you are doing is not necessary. Pretending to feel good is never fun or ideal however if we can find the little things that we can do to take the edge off (i.e., write it down, laughter, music, positive people, bucket filling, or another favorite method) we can help ourselves better cope with the bad day and have less of that “fake it till you make it” feeling. Using these simple tips to boost yourself will get you going in the right direction!
 
Sassha Bellairs is a board member for Children and Families, Inc. Professionally, she is the Director of Talent and Operations for Kleger Heine Legal Solutions supporting organizations in navigating their complex legal and personnel matters. This article was originally written for a client newsletter and is shared with permission Copyright © 2019 Kleger-Heine Legal Solutions, All rights reserved.