Navigating Tough Days: Strategies for Over-Driven Career Moms

I'm still feeling the rejuvenation of the fresh start of the new year. That's not to say that you should put any added pressure on yourself. And I especially don't like resolutions. But I do love the idea of a fresh start. Of course, you can have a fresh start at any given moment, exactly when you decide to. So just keep that in mind.

But I'm going to get into today's podcast episode, which is really about being in a bad mood and having a bad day, which totally happens, right. And figuring out how to be with what's actually happening, that is really so much of the work that I do inside my coaching program where I help really over driven moms to ditch burnout and exhaustion once and for all in 90 days or less.

And if you want to find out more, definitely check out my free masterclass on four steps to overcome burnout and overwhelmed to get your peace of mind back.

So I'm gonna dive in to how to deal with a bad mood. And it happens. And I call this real talk because I want to talk about the real deal and not sugar coat. And we all have bad days, because life is really 50% good and 50% bad. And yet somehow so many of us are conditioned to believe that life is supposed to be great and wonderful all the time.

But it's really how we cope with the adversity or the situations that come up that are not the best. We can learn how to deal with them, we can learn how to be present with our negative emotions. And that is how we cultivate peace of mind. And that is how we enjoy our lives in spite of having not a great day.

So this episode was actually inspired by my own personal experience. When we take call, we take phone calls at night. And this is just a normal part of medicine where you're on call, you get called in the middle of the night. And for me personally, I need a lot of sleep. I've always been like that. And disruptions in my sleep, definitely I'm not in the best mood when that happens.

So I woke up feeling very unrested and I went to work. And then I was getting nonstop phone calls for various things. It was back to back phone calls, like I would be answering one call and then getting called on another line and then getting paged again. And it was just a lot. And so I was not enjoying that, of course. And then I'm going to see patients and I step in a patient's urine, which that was really gross.

And it was just one of those days. Like, you know, you have those days where you wake up. And there's the saying getting up on the wrong side of the bed. And I was having that kind of a day. And it was funny because I was talking to a nurse and she was telling me oh my god, this is a horrible day. And I said, yeah, totally. I'm not having a good day.

And even actually, when people would ask me, how's it going? How are you? And I would say not great, but it's okay, it's gonna pass. I'm not having the best day, but it's not gonna last forever. And it's totally fine.

And by keeping that in mind, having a lens of this too shall pass. It helped me to not get so sucked into the story that this day is bad. Because the more you say that to yourself, the more you're going to believe it. And the more you're going to feel that way.

As opposed to having a mindset of this is going to pass, this is not going to last forever. And yeah, it's a bad day because life's not perfect. So that is what I did. And today I'm going to teach you how to cope with a bad day.

And here is what most people do. They have one bad thing happen. And then they think that it's going to ruin the whole day, the whole day is going to be crappy or unenjoyable. And often this is compounded by the fact that so many of us, whether we're working hard in our careers or at home, we're always putting the needs of others in front of ourselves.

And all the hard work you're doing is often more based on other people's needs than on your own. And so when you're doing that you're putting everyone else's needs ahead of yours. On a bad day, when really that's a day to be gentle with yourself and care for yourself. You are putting the needs of other people instead of your own and that just makes things worse.

And here's what happens when you do that. Even though you've got the picture perfect life, maybe on Instagram or to other people. It feels like you're drowning on the inside. And in fact, the alarm goes off, you wake up with dread thinking about the 1000 things you have to do for everyone else. You usually come last throughout the day. And you just wish you had a little bit of time for yourself.

And then the bad day is getting worse, because you've got so much to do, and you're not giving yourself any care or compassion. Now, there are 20 ways of dealing with a bad day and tips that work. But I'm gonna give you my favorite ways right now, I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information, but you're gonna have the ability to really turn around the bad day through the following steps.

So tip number one is to really acknowledge your feelings. When you realize that you're having a bad day, it's okay to not be okay. And just take a moment to be with that and validate for yourself that it's okay. You don't have to beat yourself out of a bad day on one hand, but you also don't have to play into it.

Which leads me to tip number two, remembering that this too shall pass, you've had bad days before. And you can have a fresh start at any given moment. So for me the other day, when I stepped in the patient's urine, I felt really aggravated, and I was already kind of cranky.

And so I put on some gloves and grabbed wipes to wipe down my sneakers. And after I did that I decided it was time to have a fresh start for the day. So you can decide to have a fresh start on your bad day. So first, you can acknowledge and then you can also decide to have a do over with your own mood.

Now another thing that's really helpful on a bad day is just to practice mindfulness. And I just find focusing on my breath, focusing on the inhale and then focusing on the exhale. That is really helpful to just get myself out of my own story that I am having a bad day.

And another tip that's helpful is to really delegate tasks if you're feeling overwhelmed. And get your workload off you whether it's at work or at home. You can get help with things and people are often very ready and willing to help more than you think if you ask.

Also another thing to do on a bad day is to find some way to exercise. It doesn't have to be super rigorous. But if you're walking to work, you could park your car really far away. As long as it's not like an icy day and it's safe to walk. You could walk, you can take the stairs, you can do a quick workout.

Something I do when I really know exercising is for the better for me, for a better mindset, better mental health. I will hop on my peloton for a quick workout, either 15 minutes or 20 minutes because it is better than nothing and it makes me feel better.

The next thing to do on a bad day is to really be gentle with yourself and be kind to yourself. You should do this in general. But when you're having a bad day, if you find yourself speaking negatively to yourself, having some negative self talk, really stop yourself in your tracks. And don't let yourself go any further.

We really have to learn to be kind to ourselves. Especially when we're not feeling great. Also connecting with those that we care about or loved ones. I think that is one of the most wonderful ways to really feel grounded, to feel connected and connected to other people, feel like we're not alone. And that can definitely pep up a bad day, having a laugh with a friend.

The next thing I'm going to tell you to do, which is a great tip. And I think this is just great in general is to practice gratitude. To really take a moment to reflect on what is working in your life. It can be as simple as having a roof over your head or appreciating. I love my space heaters in my house. They keep me so warm when it's cold. I can be grateful for that or a nice hot shower. You can listen to music that gets you jazzed up. Or you can just take a moment to breathe, be with yourself, sit quietly and know that this moment is going to pass.

And when you're really feeling terrible, something that's really helpful is to put your hand on your chest and really say to yourself I am okay, I am safe, everything is okay. And remember that this bad day is not going to last forever. This too shall pass. I have been through bad days before and I will see another day that's a great day, if not this one.

And what I found from my recent quote unquote bad day was that the beginning of the day wasn't the best. And I stepped in that patient's urine and I was getting called nonstop. And I just felt like I didn't have a lot of space to breathe in that very, very busy morning.

But by the end of the day, I had used some of these tools. I'd practiced some of these tools, I practiced the mindfulness, I called a friend and I found that the bad day really just faded away. And it was true, it really did pass.

So try at least one of these tips when you're having a bad day. Check out the show notes so you can refer to it when you need in the future. See how it goes and let me know, you can find me on Instagram @DrPrianca and I've helped so many moms who are over driven career moms to ditch burnout and exhaustion for good in 90 days or less.

Hop on a call with me to see if you are someone that I can help too PriancaNaikMDcoaching.as.me. The link is in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in and I will talk to you next week.