Maybe your car didn’t start or traffic didn’t move. Maybe you fought with your spouse or you got to work to find everything a disaster. Or maybe you wrote an entire post (like this one) for a site and then your web browser crashed before you saved it. We all have those days that start out so bad, we feel like the only solution is to go home at lunch and sleep til tomorrow. I think that there are some ways that we can salvage a day even if it starts out horrendous. Here are some ideas for recovering from a bad start:

• Get somewhere by yourself.
  People, coworkers espescially, tend to irritate us further instead of calm us. If you don’t have an office with a door, then go somewhere. Go grab a snack at a nearby market or just sit in your car. Take a second and close your eyes, but don’t sleep. That will only make it worse.

• Accomplish something
  Take on a task that you can finish quickly. This will give you the sense of accomplishment that can carry you on to the next one. Solving a problem gets us motivated.

• Play a game
  I don’t know how frowned on this is at your work, but play some sort of game. It will take your mind off of what you have to worry about. Try playing some web-based games like TextTwist or some classics. Play for about 10 minutes to clear your mind.

• Make the decision not to give up
  Your day will not improve if you have already decided it sucks. Make the conscious effort to change the course of your day. Begin to make an effort to see the good in situations as they unfold.

• Learn from what has happened
  Don’t let the course of events repeat itself on another day. If traffic was terrible, find an alternate route. If you spilled on your clothes, start keeping an extra in your car or office. And if you deleted a post, save more frequently.

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