On my way to work one morning, I spilled an entire purple smoothie on my light pink shirt.
You can imagine the shrieks that came out of my mouth as I had to make a last minute turn into the gas station to clean myself up. As I was leaving the gas station, smelling like a fruit-stand, I got a text from a fellow student that they didn't get a chance to finish their portion of the project that is due the next day at 8 am. 'Great,' I thought, 'Now I have to do it myself.' Already frustrated by my spilled smoothie, and now my busy night of school work, I didn't think my morning could get worse. How could it, it's only 10 am. I thought wrong.
As I pulled into the parking lot, arriving a few minutes early to work, I checked Instagram. The first picture that pops up? A photo of a guy i'm really into kissing another girl at some party the night before. *Dramatically starts crying in car*. Now my day actually can't get worse, can it? Once inside the stand, I come to find out we are down one person on the shift and we are slammed. AWESOMMMMMME. Working at Dutch Bro's, it is my job to be happy. It is my job to be a ball of energy, and bring a happier day to our costumers. But because I am human, I am not always happy. I still have bad days, and I am allowed to not want to talk to anyone. But how in the world was I going to get through the 6 hour shift of work when all I wanted to do was cry?
***** Skip ahead 24 hours *****
During the middle of a treacherous shift, filled with fake smiles and half-hearted conversations, I realized something. Why was I upset? Why was I letting something as little as a spilled smoothie get to me? Better it landed on me than my tan colored seats, right? And why was I letting things get to me when they are completely out of my control? I can't help the fact that my coworker got food poisoning the night before, I can't change the fact that the boy just didn't like me as much as I thought he did, and I definitely can't change the fact that my partner is lazy and didn't complete his portion of our project. But I can change how I feel about these situations. I took a breather, splashed my face with some cold water, and made a vow to not make that day, or any day for that matter, a bad day.
What is a bad day? No really, think about what a bad day means to you. Is it when your alarm doesn't go off and you're late to class? Is it when your flight gets delayed due to a snow storm? Is it when you spill something, a smoothie for instance, all over yourself? OR... maybe, just maybe, are those bad moments and our day is entirely fine and good?
When things go wrong, especially when they are completely out of our control, do not take it so hard. Don't let it ruin your day. Instead, acknowledge that it happened, and move on. Let it be a bad moment, but get over it. Work around the obstacle or mishap that has altered your current state of being. I'll be the first to admit that this isn't always easy. But learning to let things go, and learning to cope with people and their bad days, too (moments, in my mind) is one step closer to me being a much happier person.
My advice to you, now, is to not let spilled milk upset you. Simply clean it up, laugh it off and move on with your day.
