Let’s not underestimate the power of an occasional sh*tty day

Posted on February 01, 2012 by Traci Wallace, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

We strive for it, we all want to be it, we talk about it, and it seems to be everywhere these days. Happy.

It’s kind of like “happy” is the new “green”. Remember about five-ten years ago (I’m bad with time) when everywhere you looked there were signs/advertising/etc: “Go Green”, “We’re Green”, “Are you green?”, “Live Green”… green was everywhere for the first time … and it was cool to be green (which was great, because people actually started caring about the environment) … Now since returning back to the U.S. from India, I have noticed “green” has been replaced with “happy” (oh, and in some cases, replaced with “Gluten-Free”, but that’s another story for another time).

For example, it seems like every commercial on t.v. is “Be Happy”, “Drive Happy”, “Live Happy”, “Eat Happy” … there are movies like “The Happy Movie”, “Happythankyoumoreplease” … and there are websites like “Choose Happiness”, “Positively Positive” and even my own “Happy Song of the Day” site … Holy God, happiness is getting exhausting.

If you know me or read my blog, you know that yes, I would consider myself a very happy and positive person, (and consequently, I happen to love both The Happy Movie and Happythankyoumoreplease) partly because my Mom brought me up in an environment where the overall theme was “everything will always work out”, and also because I do yoga 4x a day ;) (kidding, only twice) … and yes, admittedly, over the last 5-6 months since I have returned home, I have been extra happy (at times, maybe even borderline annoying) because, well, let’s be honest, I love Delhi, but, Encinitas in contrast, is basically heaven.

Yes, living in a state of happiness is amazing (and it’s how it should be), however, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the occasional sh*tty day. Of course, when those bad days come, at least to me, I want it to end immediately (honestly, I don’t do sad very well). I go for a walk/run, do yoga, listen to music, whatever I can do to make that feeling go away as soon as possible. However, recently during a particular bad day, rather than running from it, I decided to sit in it, be in it, and in a weird way, enjoy it … and guess what, I actually did.

A reoccurring theme that keeps coming up in my life, is the realization that the happiest of moments (even the one’s filled with butterflies and rainbows – literally) don’t always lead where you think, and the worst moments can lead you to a place you never even knew existed … and regardless of what kind of moment you have, it always seems to make sense on the other side. That I do know.

So, as the world continues on with the “Happy Movement”, (which, don’t get me wrong, is amazing & I am totally on board) let’s just make sure that we are happy as a result of things that genuinely make us happy … and when we are sad, (hopefully, those days don’t come too often), we allow ourselves to be sad.

Yes, the happy days are what life’s about, but on the days where the butterflies and rainbows are nowhere to be found, good news is, you can guarantee there’s probably a good lesson in there somewhere, but the only way you can find it is if let yourself be in it.