I’ve had my fair share of days when absolutely nothing seems to be going my way. In those days, I am completely stuck in them and continue to convince myself just how terrible that day is. When I’m having one of those days, I find myself saying, “today can’t get any worse” multiple times. I’m talking about days when you wake up and know from the second you step out from your warm, comfy bed that it’s not going to be a good one. Then you go to class and get a bad grade on a test, they give you black iced coffee instead of iced tea at dunkin (lemon and all), you fall down the stairs in front of your building, get a flat tire on your car, and Netflix isn’t loading because your wifi is the worst; one of those kinds of days.

But I’ve recently also had some truly wonderful days in addition to the bad ones. These good days are something that have become incredibly special to me, especially when they come with the bad. I think for me, it’s my friends and the people I’m surrounded with who make those bad days tolerable and the good days that much better. I’m lucky to have multiple amazing people in my life right now, some older friendships and some more recent ones. But these friendships are all ones that I don’t know what I did without them before. My days (good or bad) are without a doubt brighter with these friends in them.

While reflecting lately, I’ve realized that it comes full circle. Without the bad, I don’t think i would appreciate the good days and friendships nearly as much. I think they would make me happy, but I wouldn’t be as truly thankful for them as I am. I also feel that we need a balance in our lives. You’re going to have those awful days where you just need a good cry; it's okay to not be okay sometimes. Without those days, you wouldn't realize just how important it is to not take the good ones for granted.

I think the bad day/good day balancing act also helps us to notice the little things in our friendships that show you how important and rare good friends are. I know if I’m having a bad day and one of my friends checks up on me, it immediately changes my mood. There’s some friends that will show up at your door at 10:30 at night to make sure you’re okay. There’s friends that will drop whatever they’re doing to pick you up and get ice cream. There are some friends that I can’t help but smile when I’m around them. So even on your worst days, I promise if you are surrounded by the right people, you can probably find something good about it.

You just have to remember to take the good with the bad. One of my favorite quotes is: “It's just a bad day, not a bad life.” Without the rough days, moments, and friendships, we wouldn’t be so grateful for the amazing ones. Not every day is good, but there will always be some good in every day. Try to keep that in mind the next time one of these awful days happen to you.

Lastly, don’t forget to thank those friends who make the good days great and the bad days better because I know I wouldn’t be able to make it through without them.