How to Use Self-Care to Bounce Back From a Bad Day

Self-care for those days.

We all have bad days now and then.

I know that, whenever I have a bad day, I just let myself have a bad day. There wasn’t anything I would do to make myself feel better, even just one bit.

Although sometimes I try to force myself to be positive, I end up feeling worse.

After a few more of those bad days, I began to learn over time things that made me feel better whenever I had a bad day. As I gathered these lists, I noticed that they are all self-care activities that you can do.

That’s why, this blog post is about how you can use self-care to bounce back from a bad day. You will learn of 5 self-care tasks that are very low effort but very effective in bouncing back from those “meh days.

This blog post is for anyone who could use some go-to tools and strategies for whenever they have “one of those days”.

Let’s dive in.

1 – Let Yourself Feel Your Emotions

What this means is that if you feel like crying, then cry.

If you feel stressed, don’t beat yourself out for it. Let yourself feel stressed.

The point is to not force yourself and beat yourself up for having these emotions. Instead, let yourself have those emotions.

Think of a punctured tire. Once you discover you have a punctured tire, you want to get it fixed right away. Because if you continue driving with the punctured tire, eventually, it’ll break down even more, worse than the first time.

However, if you get it fixed right away, you can move on right away. Yes, there was a bit of a delay in getting to where you need to be, but there would’ve been a longer delay if you hadn’t fixed it right away.

Same with your emotions. Once you realize that you’re feeling a certain emotion, instead of pushing yourself to feel something else (e.g. a more “positive” emotion), deal with those emotions right then and
there.

From my experience, suppressing my emotions always has done more harm than good. This is because each time I do this, I am telling myself that there is something wrong with me for having a feeling that’s not “positive”.

So, if you’re having one of those days where you just don’t feel positive no matter how hard you try, it’s okay. Let yourself feel those emotions. After all, you are a human being.

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2 – Utilize Your Social Media Folders

For each of these social media, these are some folders you can create:

• Instagram – Instagram folders
• TikTok – TikTok collections
• Pinterest – Pinterest Boards
• YouTube – YouTube playlists

Now, you are going to add any content you find motivational and inspirational. Whether you come across it while you scroll, or you intentionally go out and find it, add it to these social media folders. How you do it is up to you.

I like creating different folders on each social media for various purposes. For example, on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, I have “motivational and inspirational” folders for whenever I feel like I need a motivator. I even have a “self-love” and “confidence booster” folders for when I need them.

Let’s face it – when you’re having a bad day, you only really feel like doing easy things. And one of those easy things happens to be going on social media. Since we all know that going on social media can make
you feel worse, the best you can do is go on the folders and consume content that will motivate you.

So maybe, social media isn’t a bad thing, after all, you can still make it productive.

3 – Have a Go-To Drink

I just want to clarify, that it must be a NON-alcoholic drink.

Here’s the thing with having a go-to drink – it can be whatever drink you want (it has to be non-alcoholic though).

My go-to drink is flavored water.

Whenever I am in a good mood, I drink the flavored water. What this did is that I began to associate my good moods and positive emotions with the flavored water.

So, whenever I am having a “meh” day, when I drink flavored water because I associate it with good feelings, I start to have those good feelings.

This is something you can try as well! Pick a drink, and drink it every time you’re in a good mood. Drink it enough times that you associate that drink with a good mood.

The reason why this is great is that it’s very low effort. It’s kind of like a “magic potion” in a way. All you need to do is drink your favorite beverage, and it can put you in a good mood.

Of course, the catch is that you have to have drunk it enough times to associate the drink with those good feelings.

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4 – Just. Get. Changed

If we’re laying down the law here, sometimes all you need to do is just get changed.

Because the reality is that if we are wearing something that makes us feel sluggish, we are not going to feel like our best selves.

Now, I’m not saying to go and wear a fancy outfit. Sometimes it’s just as simple as changing from one pair of PJs to a fresh pair of PJs.

Yes, of course, we want to always leave the house feeling our best, and we must take the time to do that. But during those days when we feel “meh”, and we only feel like putting minimal effort into our
outfits, the best thing we can do is just get changed.

I know that even when I just change my shirt and shorts, I feel instantly better, even though it’s still a simple outfit. But, I felt so much better than if I just stayed in sweats.

So, give it a go. When you’re feeling “meh”, just. get. changed.

5 – Put on an upbeat playlist

I’m going to tell some truths here.

Whenever I put on sad songs, I feel sad.

Whenever I put on angry breakup songs, I feel angry.

But whenever I put on happy and motivational music, I feel happy and motivated.

This is why having a playlist ready to go for those funk days is a great way to feel better.

You can create a playlist of songs that you know motivate and uplift you. And, whenever you come across songs that make you happy, add them to the playlist too.

So, when you have those funk days, you already have a playlist ready to go. The best part is that it’s also very low effort and all you have to do is just press play. It’s a pretty amazing way to do self-care.

BONUS – you can also do this with podcasts!

Take a SMALL STEP:

Here are some small steps you can take to get started on
these self-care tasks:

1. Let Yourself Feel the Emotions – this is more of a “when it happens” thing, than something you prepare for ahead of time. Given this, moving forward, whenever you feel some sort of emotion, just
   let yourself feel it.
2. Utilize your social media folders – Pick any social media (TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube) and create a folder/playlist filled with posts that motivate and uplift you. If you want to take it a step forward, create folders for every occasion 😊
3. Have a Go-To Drink – Pick a drink that you will drink every time you are in a good mood, so you can associate that drink with happy emotions.
4. Just Get Changed! – Take the time to figure out your personal style ahead of time so whenever it’s time to get changed during those funk days, you have some go-to outfits already.
5. Upbeat Playlist – Start creating your
   playlist filled with happy songs. You can also create a podcast list too.

To Wrap Up

So hopefully you have some helpful things in mind on what you can do whenever you have a bad day. By letting yourself feel your emotions, using social media folders, having your favorite drink, getting changed, and having an upbeat playlist, you are practicing different forms of self-care. Most times, during those “meh” or bad days, doing some self-care tasks can make a difference.

If you want some resources to help with your self-care, I’ve got a free Self-Care workbook that you can download for free in the Free Resources Library. You can click here to sign up for it!

In the meantime, take it easy on yourself… on both the good and “not-so-good” days.

-Lauren 😊

P.S I recommend you read these blog posts next:

• 10 Easy Tasks for Your “Get Out of a Funk” Routine
• 5 Essential Self-Care Practices
• Quick Guide to Self-Care: Resources & Activities

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