Having An Off Day

Caregivers Journey

Everyone has an off day. No matter who you are or what you do everyone has one. An off day usually comes without warning and can wreck havoc if you let it. We all know what having an off day feels like. Nothing seems to work, everything we touch seems to break and we just don’t have the energy needed to quickly recover and move on. For me, a recovering perfectionist and control freak, having an off day can feel like torture not only because I’m not myself but if I don’t give myself permission to have an off day I beat myself up with worry and concern on top of being off my game. I tend to get nervous and anxious during my off day and can’t concentrate on anything because my mind is occupied with how badly I am handling things and how miserable I am. I was recently having an off day and instead of just surrendering to the fact it wasn’t a great day I started beating myself up and racing through my tasks to over compensate. I missed a detail in a very important email that caused a mistake that ended up being very uncomfortable. This is a perfect example of what not to do when you have an off day. What you need to do is buckle down, slow down, and focus on the task at hand. As soon as I am able to identify the fact that I am indeed having a bad day, I need to try and do the following :

1. Surrender! It’s just an off day. Nobody’s fault, no one is out to get me, and it’s not permanent. Let go and let God.

2. Slow down! I need to do stuff in slow motion. If I get anxious and rush I’m going to miss something or break something. If I slow it down there’s less chance I will make it worse.

3. Show up! Just get through it doing the minimum. There is no need today for me to set any records or win any awards. Today I don’t have to go the extra mile, I just need to show up and suit up and know it will all get done.

4. Reward myself. When the day is done I need to take a hot bath or eat a good healthy comforting meal and get good rest all the while telling myself I did a great job getting through a poopy day. Fortunately, off days are temporary and we get to hit re-start every morning.

I won’t have the energy however for my spanking new tomorrow if I let today get me down. I need to do the best I can on my off day then let it go when it’s over. Remember, having an off day is not a death sentence. Just a variable of life on life’s terms. You will get through it and you may even laugh about it tomorrow.