74 People Who Are Probably Having A Day Way Worse Than Yours

Small things often go wrong daily, but we don’t notice some of them, and a few can actually ruin our day. According to a report by the New York Post, by 8:36am, the average American already knows whether their next 24 hours will be nice or terrible. Research on over 2,000 folks in the U.S. found that 26% believe that if something goes wrong in the morning, there’s no saving the rest of the day. 

They also noted that on average, people tended to have 4 terrible days per month, and that these experiences usually came at the start of the week, possibly why it’s called the ‘Monday blues.’ Notably, 51% of parents said they experienced more terrible days at the start of the school year.

There could be many reasons a person’s day doesn't turn out as expected, and apparently, for 35% of folks, waking up feeling sick did it for them. For 31% of people, poor-quality sleep or waking up with a headache affected the rest of their day.

From losing keys to forgetting their phone, or even running out of toilet paper, so many tiny things can make the next 24 hours feel like a pain. The problem is that once a day starts off badly, it can carry over for the next couple of hours and make a person feel even worse.

When someone has a terrible day, it isn’t just the physical exhaustion or pain they feel; a lot is also happening under the surface. According to the Inquisitive Mind, positive or negative events in a day tend to affect our mood and how we behave afterward.

Sometimes, though, our emotion-processing bias can alter how we experience the world around us, and if we internalize or hold onto negative events, we might carry the stress of a bad day for much longer than we should. This can then translate into worry, tension, and negative thoughts like maybe the rest of our week will turn out terribly as well.

As you might have noticed from this list, everyone seems to have bad days at least once in a while. Unfortunately, research has found that folks who experience depression and anxiety might struggle more after having a tough time; mainly, they might have an attentional bias that pushes them to look out for more mellow cues like sad music.

This can make a person feel even worse and thereby continue the cycle of pain and distress. That’s why experts advise folks to focus on what they are grateful for, as this kind of positive thinking can help people out of their funk and see their day in a better light.

Sometimes you can have a bad day, or, in extreme cases, a series of unfortunate events that push a person over the edge. In such cases, therapists note that people with many social roles, like artists, teachers, dancers, and painters, tend to be more emotionally resilient than folks with fewer roles.

This is called “self-complexity” theory, and it suggests that people with more roles often build more social connections, which can help them regulate their emotions better and be more cognitively flexible. This could also suggest they respond to stress and disappointment better than those with fewer roles.

A great way to turn a terrible day or week around completely is to celebrate the experience and actively do things that can make you feel better. Although it might feel completely alien to push yourself to be happy when you're at your lowest, gratitude or celebration can lessen the burden and help you feel better.

A person’s attitude can make all the difference between being completely bogged down by an experience and dealing with it well. Since life is full of twists and turns, it’s best to go with the flow, experience even the lows, and choose to respond in a better way.