Bad days hit us all.

There are always going to be those mornings that we wake up late, traffic is awful, we miss lunch, someone is rude, etc. We don't have time to run that crucial errand or we simply lose track and forget. I could go on and on. There will always be those days (or weeks) in life that bring us down. There will always be external events that stress us out. We can't control it.

But, you know what we can control? Whether or not it IS a bad day.

I know I just contradicted myself, but bear with me.

Bad days and bad stressors will always happen. We are always going to hit adversity on the days we least need it or can handle it. What we do have power over is how we respond to those events.

I do not want to admit how many times I have said, "Well, I had a bad day so…" and used it as an excuse to just be unhappy or to be cranky. Once something throws my ideal day out of whack I'm quick to just let it all slide.

It's so easy to blame an external event for our foul moods and resentful attitudes, but how many more good days could we have if we took control of those moments. We can choose immediate forgiveness of our boss that is mean or the driver that cut us off. Easier said than done maybe, but possible.

For me, if it's a person, I will make myself say out loud that I forgive them and that I hope their day turns around too. It instantly works wonders! If it's something I forgot to do or something I personally messed up I apply the same tactic to myself. Forgiving ourselves, even for something tiny and insignificant, is sometimes harder than forgiving others.

It doesn't always work perfectly, and most times it takes a lot of effort and more than one try. And, of course, there are times when anxiety or other things truly out of my control take over. I have noticed though that anxiety strikes less often when I am mindful of my immediate reactions to stressors.

How many more great days can we give ourselves and others if we continue to focus on the good in each day and use the willpower it takes to not let those unavoidable bad events to control our reactions. Forgive, take a breath, and move on and maybe all those bad days are controllable after all.