Have you ever had one of those really bad days? You know, the ones where literally everything under the sun just goes absolutely wrong and nothing is in your favor. The ones where your alarm doesn't go of so you're rushing and then you're running late and catch every red light on your way to work and then when you get there, there is no parking nearby and then you spill your coffee all over yourself and then you realize you didn't do the homework that was due at 11:59 p.m. last night and it's just one thing after another after another. You know what I'm talking about, we've all had them.
When we experience days like this we often just label the entire day as bad thinking nothing good happened throughout the whole course of that day. I am more guilty of this than I'd like to admit. However, this sort of thinking couldn't be further from the truth. We are so quick to recognize bad things or failures throughout the day no matter how small they are but for some reason, we don't do the same with good things or victories. We tend to only recognize our daily victories if they are something big like Getting an A on your Chemistry exam or getting that promotion at work. We are less likely to recognize small victories like getting out of bed this morning even though you really didn't want to or actually eating all three meals in a day when you typically only eat one meal and a snack because you're so busy.
These things may seem small and insignificant, but they are victories and they should be recognized. Because I am guilty of this negative thinking I have challenged myself, and now I am going to challenge you. This challenge is called the Simple Joys Challenge. It's fairly simple. At the conclusion of each day, whether really good, really bad, or in between, I challenge you to reflect on your day and recall 5 small, simple victories. Whatever those look like for you. Life can be tough and the world can be cruel but you can find joy in every single day if you're willing to look closely enough. You've made it this far, keep going. Life is sweet!
Sheetal Tadiparty
Flickr Creative Commons
