Are you struggling with hard days and feeling like you’re failing to handle tough situations? Why do some people bounce back faster than the others?
The main difference is not how much hard days we all have, but the way we speak to ourselves during those tough times. If you are already having a hard day (e.g.: kids are sick, not sleeping well the day before, receiving a sad news from your family), and you continue to have the same expectations on how you should function, you’re bound to be disappointed and this will snowball into more self sabotaging behaviors.
“Excellent practice with highly trained clinicians who truly care about their clients’ well-being. Highly recommend to anyone seeking psychotherapy!”
Rebecca Johnson, CA, USA
Instead of that, here are some tips on how to reframe your thoughts:
It has been proven through years of scientific research that the two forms of health relate closely with one another. In many people who are battling any form of sickness, deterioration of their mental health can be seen following.
“without mental health, there can be no true physical health”.
For instance, people dealing with type II diabetes mellitus are twice as likely to experience depression as the general population and those patients with diabetes who are depressed have greater difficulty with self-care. In the same sense, people dealing with mental illness are twice as likely to smoke cigarettes.
Up to 50% of cancer patients suffer from a mental illness, especially depression and anxiety and treating symptoms of depression in cancer patients may improve survival time.
Even void of chronic illnesses, we are all probably far too familiar with feeling lethargic or burned out; feelings that can make even the smallest of tasks seem daunting as a result. The way we feel physically impacts how we feel mentally and vice versa. This makes it vital to take care of our health both psychologically and physiologically.
Instead of that, here are some tips on how to reframe your thoughts:
- First, acknowledge that it’s hard. Validating your feelings is important because it helps calm down the inner child versus adult battle. Take a moment to sit with that feeling and let it calm down before reasoning with yourself.
- Next, find evidence to challenge the negative statement. Investigate if the statement is entirely true and look for examples of times when you’ve overcome similar feelings or situations. Celebrate your wins on good days to better remember your capabilities on bad days.
- Adjust your goals accordingly. Externalize bad days as just that, and adjust your expectations accordingly. Don’t let 10/10 be the standard on a bad day because that will only make it harder to push through.
- Build your protective factors. Strengthen your support system, self-care habits, and emotional outlets. Ride with the momentum on good days to do more of it, so you can fall back on those habits on tough days.
“Remember, bad days don’t define you.”
With the right tools and mindset, you can manage those tough times and come out stronger.
Take care of yourself, because you deserve it.
