Last night my family and I sat down to play a family game of Qwirkle. I had compromised to play the game because the kids wanted to play it. I had no desire to play and withdrew toward the end of the game when I started losing. Why did I act this way?
I had had a really bad night of sleep and felt really bad. I had made it through my calls during the day and in sitting through an hour and a half Zoom call to learn more about what the plan was for the opening of school for my kids, but I couldn’t keep my good mood up during the game.
At one point, my daughter turned to me and asked, “Dad, why don’t you just go to bed?”
I became angry at myself because I wanted to spend time with my family and I did want to go to bed too early because I knew that I would just wake up in the middle of the night.
I struggled through the game and then went to bed afterward.
I had a bad day. I tried to rally and put more energy into being positive so that I could spend time with my family, but I failed.
I had pushed myself too far. After I went upstairs to go to bed, I felt bad, but I knew what would solve the problem: I needed a good night of sleep. Nothing else would help.
I went to bed, woke up today, and I feel better.
We are going to have bad days. There will be days when things don’t just go our way. During those times, we need to fall back on the skills we’ve learned to help re-center us. Get a good night of sleep, eat and drink right, exercise, practice meditation, and focus on activities that will help you.
Having a bad day is human and we all go through difficult times. How we handle those bad days is critical to our healing journey. No need to take out our frustration on others or ourselves. For today, give yourself what you need to feel better. You deserve it.
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