If you’re anything like the rest of us, you know what it’s like to have an awful day. And when I say awful, I mean the kind of day where just about everything goes wrong, where you can feel it coming the minute your feet hit the floor in the morning. It’s one of those days where you just want to curl up into a ball and not move for the entire day. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had absolutely horrible days, and we all know what it feels like to be in the midst of one of these days, feeling as if it is never going to end. With that being said, here are a few reminders to help you get through the worst days, the semi-bad days, and even the just okay days.

Remember that you’re doing the best that you can. This life isn’t easy, and it’s okay to have days where you feel like you don’t measure up. During these days, take a deep breath, and remind yourself that you’re only human. You’re one person, and you can only handle so much. It’s perfectly okay to feel bogged down and overwhelmed. Try not to be so hard on yourself. You’re doing what you can with what you have, and when you really think about it, that’s pretty remarkable.

Remind yourself that today is short. Though it may seem endless, realize that very soon, the sun is going to set and it’s going to rest for the night. And in the morning, the sun will rise, renewed and rejuvenated, ready to take on a new day. The same goes for you. No matter how terrible today may feel, keep telling yourself that today is only one day- one page in an endless novel, one small fragment in a long sequence. Tomorrow is another day. Whenever I’ve had an awful day, the only way I can get through it is by reminding myself that tomorrow will be better. And more often than not, it is.

Possibly even think of it like this: bad days are necessary in helping us appreciate the good days. If we never experienced bad days, how much would we actually appreciate life? It would become one boring cycle, with each day becoming seemingly the same. Bad days, as awful as they are, give us variation in our daily lives. Sometimes, going through bad things are what we need to propel us forward.

Bad days are a part of life. Isn’t that what it’s all about, the good and the bad? Although this is probably easier said than done, it’s important to appreciate the bad. It might even be possible that our bad days shape who we are more than the good days do. Even though certain days have the ability to extinguish our enthusiasm and drive, when we look back at the end of our lives, I’m willing to argue that we won’t remember all the little things that went wrong, all of the days that felt never-ending. On our very last day, I think we’ll remember all of the good days. The ones where we felt like we were flying even though our feet never left the ground, the days when we were so filled with joy we felt as if we could explode. At the end of it all, it will be the good days that stick with us and mean so much to us. And just maybe, when we look back on it, the bad days weren’t so bad after all.