Today I had a bad day.
On a scale from one to ten, today was negative five. My day was long, and full of errands and unruly teenagers.
The phone rang off the hook, the power went out every twenty minutes because of a storm, and I nearly lost all of my spreadsheets for our summer program that I’ve been working on since January. Chaos: That was my day.
I suffer from an anxiety disorder, so what may seem like a crazy day to you is actually hell and back for me. All I wanted to do was lock myself in my boss’s office and turn off the lights.
I turned to my coworkers to complain, but everyone was having about as heavy a day as I was. I now know what it’s like to feel like a small, insignificant fish among a hundred other fish.
Sometimes I feel like the glue that holds the building together and sometimes I feel like a blade of grass in a field. Today was a bit of both.
Today I had a bad day. And that’s okay.
I always need to remind myself that today was a bad day. Today was bad but tomorrow will not be. Yesterday was fine, today was bad, and tomorrow will be fine. Bad days come in spurts. They aren’t a regular occurrence and I constantly needed to remind myself of that fact today.
I screwed up. I said some things that I shouldn’t have said and I messed up. But I won’t tomorrow. Disclaimer: I’m very good at my job, and I know it. Just because I messed up today, doesn’t mean I’m going to mess up tomorrow. I probably won’t screw up tomorrow because now I know better.
Today was a bad day, but it was a learning experience.
I learn from myself every single day. I learn how to better handle situations, I learn how much I can take on at once, and I learn from my mistakes.
The most important things I have learned in my year at my job working with kids are one, that every day is important and two, mistakes happen.
So today was a bad day. But sh*t happens.
The power goes out, the computer resets, and a kid spills Sprite all over the floor. It happens. It sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it but clean it up and move on to the next catastrophe.
The words of YouTuber Emma Blackery came to mind today: “I’ve been worse.” There have been worse days and there are going to be even worse days than today. Today is bad but it isn’t the end of the world. Today I had a bad day, but tomorrow is a new one and I will wake up and feel better.
Sure, my head is pounding from staring at a computer all day mixed with the laughing-screams of eight year olds. Sure, my stomach is growling from not having a minute to myself to scarf down a granola bar. Sure, this sucks, but it won’t always suck.
Tomorrow will be better. This is a reminder for myself, for my family, and for you. Today I had a bad day. Maybe today you had a bad day. But tomorrow the sun will still come up and you will have a better day.
