How to salvage an otherwise bad day

I found this journal entry from awhile back- a time when parenting was very challenging for me.  Where homeschooling wasn't finding as easy place in the balance of being home with a 5, 3 and 1 year old. Since then, we have fallen into a better routine, where the challenges are fewer than the joys and the majority of our days have a sense of peace.  Reading this reminded me that hard days come and go- and that they do not have to be the norm, or the definition of life at home.  

November 2011

I don’t know the exact odds of 4 people getting up on the wrong side of bed on the same morning- or how specifically one crummy mood rubs off on those around you.  All I know is that this morning we had a case of the grumps: to. the. max.  I am talking about whining, pouting, and acting like brats: and that was just me!  We tried to settle down and do school- and it was one breakdown after another.  Teaching and learning don’t happen easily when both the student and the teacher are in this type of mood.  I think it’s safe to say we all felt overwhelmed, burnt out and just not really “into it”  this morning.  I literally hid myself and had a good old cry then picked myself back up after some prayer and went to plan B.  Forcing us to continue in this manor wasn’t benefitting anyone- we had to change things up and salvage the rest of our day- it was after all, only 8:43 am!  I packed away the school books (an option we have as homeschoolers- we can make up our hours when learning will actually take place!) 

Hard work.  I mean, deep cleaning, de-cluttering, junk tossing kind of hard work.  We started in the boys’ room.  It was a mess.  It was overwhelming to even step foot in there, much less actually be in there playing, sleeping or even having a time-out!  With the garbage bag in hand we tackled the disaster zone.  As we worked, we teamed up!  We used our frustration to our advantage and put all of that energy to work.  The result, a sense of accomplishment, a fresh start.  A recovered bad day.  Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves (this is an easy rut to fall into)  We switched focus for awhile and re-grouped.

Were the remaining hours of our day perfect? Not in the least- but our goal isn’t perfection.  Perfect days are not realistic- so we don’t even set the expectation that high.  The rest of our day was enjoyable- we were able to be here and not just throw the entire day out the window… we had a refocused perspective. 

What do you do when your day is just off to a bad start? Do you throw in the towel and just suffer through, or do you have a plan in place or some tricks up your sleeve so that you are able to shift focus and make the most of a hard situation?  Sometimes for our family, bad days are just plain and simple bad days- what can we learn through the challenging times?  What can we do different next time to have better results?  We don’t have to let the bad days define us- or overwhelm us.  We find our true guidance straight from the Word of God- and this is a verse that sooths my soul on the days where life is tough. We aren’t promised a life free from trouble- but we can still claim the promise of peace!  We can take heart and rest assured that we are in good hands. 

 

 

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”