Bad Days Gone Wild.

Lately I have been reading a book called "DailyOM: Inspirational Thoughts for a Happy, Healthy, and Fulfilling Day" (Madisyn Taylor). You can find the website by it's author by clicking here: http://www.dailyom.com/
Anybody who knows me knows my addiction for self-help books. I always feel like a bit of a geek for browsing through that section at the old B&N, but honestly I'm completely hooked. I think constantly improving yourself is such a HUGE deal because, as I always say, you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life and therefore should make that person the BEST they can be. I feel like the information is just so... applicable.
Anyways last night was one of those crazy nights where I opened the page and it felt like it grabbed my hand and said "Oh, this one is JUST for you." If you want to get right down to it I have been reading like 5 days worth of the "Daily Om" stuff each night because it's amazing, and last night's they were ALL pointing my direction.
One of them (because I don't want to go over all of them) was about having bad days. And yesterday was a really awful downright crappy day for me. I wont get into why, but I woke up yesterday morning completely miserable. After several conversations with friends of mine and a lot of junk food, I started to feel better. And at the end of the day, I prepared myself for not feeling that way again. I talked to my Mom, went to the movies with a friend, and went to the market for some groceries and Tylenol PM. Project: Feel Good was initiated.
And this morning I felt better. Much, much better. Almost like a load had been lifted off of my shoulders. And as I look back on my reading from last night, I realize why everything is better. Here is an excerpt from the book:

Bad days contribute to the people we become. Although we may feel discouraged and distressed, they can teach us patience and perseverance. It is important to remember that our attitude drives our destiny and that one negative experience does not have to be the beginning of an ongoing stroke of bad luck. A bad day is memorable because it is situated among many good ones; otherwise we would not even bother to acknowledge that it is bad.

I feel that it is important to learn from our bad days and terrible experiences. If we don't learn anything, what's the point? Yesterday I was exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. I wasn't getting enough sleep and my mind was racing with thoughts about people in my life whom I couldn't help, which in turn was making my heart ache for them. But throughout the day I realized that if I was going to be HAPPY, it was up to me and only me. And so I made plans to get some sleep. And I cut ties with people who were draining on my emotions. And I enlisted a friend to spend some bonding time with me. I cleaned my room. And I read some of my book. And by the time I was ready to go to sleep, I felt refreshed. I felt like my life was a bit more tidy. A day that had started off crappy ended up pretty nice.

And that's the opportunity that bad days give you. You can take something that you feel bummed out on, recognise it, and turn it around. And hopefully not let it happen again, but if it DOES then you'll know what to do the next time. This is LIFE.