Hope: It’s Okay To Have A Bad Day

:: this post is part of the ‘hope’ series. it includes bits + pieces of  my journey with depression, anxiety + insomnia with the hope that it will illuminate, expose, + help ::

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It’s okay to have a bad day. Seriously. It’s okay.

Life changes, expands, shrinks, gets busy + peaceful depending on your current rhythm. And with that comes a whole range of feelings – overwhelmed, excited, stressed, happy, delirious, sad, happy tears, sad tears, etc etc etc.

Personally, the month of October was a hard one for me. I had lot’s of bad days + lot’s of good days.

The last two weeks of October were hectic. My final assignments + exams were due + at one stage I had 6 assignments due over one weekend.

With that came a couple of all-nighter’s, abundance of caffeine, tea, + sugar, migraine’s, headaches, neck ache’s, anxiety because of the stress + deadlines, + then the because I wasn’t sleeping properly I was having my anti-depressants at different times each day (completely underestimated my doctor’s advice – having the tablets at different times does actually affect you).

As a result, I started to go “backwards”. My mood became low, anxiety went high, got teary real easy, indecisiveness (massive indicator for me) flared up, + I started to withdraw from social situations again.

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During this period though, I realised this: it’s okay to have a bad day or week, but it’s not okay to stay there.

Going on this journey doesn’t mean that everything will be sunshine + rainbows.

No.

It simply means that your valleys will look different to the previous ones.

Recognise your triggers, take extra special care of yourself, say ‘yes’ to every social invitation, dress pretty, tell a friend, go for walks outside, drink your favourite drink, get offline, read more, + sleep well.

It’s okay to have a bad day or a dip in emotions.

But when you do (because you will), lift your head a little higher, take a deep breath in, be deliberate in making changes, + remember that if you want to get better, you have to decide to try...

[read more posts from the 'hope' series here]