There Is Something Good In Every Day

Life has its ups and downs, there are stretches when it just won't go according to plan or days that do not feel up-lifting. You haven't had the inspiring idea for your book yet, your dream-job seems too far away, and you haven't run that marathon ...

Instead you just went to work, cooked dinner, mopped a floor and then curled up in bed to watch the latest episode of "The Middle." This sounds like an average day, where nothing ever happens. And yet, I am a firm believer that there is something good in every single day. This is hardly a philosophy or quote that I was born with but rather one I had taken into the deepest core of my being over the years.

This started in the now long-distant year of 2016 - when life had been a bit tough:

I had finished university a year ago and was yet to find a job in my respective field. This made me feel like I had failed. While I was working, I struggled to make enough money to move out which made feel like I was not good enough compared to my peers. By the end of the day, I felt like I had failed myself, my family, and worthless.  

2016 was not an easy year. I had to reinvent my path and my goals once more it's a task that is never easy and always painful. That summer had been a tough cookie. Luckily, as autumn approached I stumbled over the twitter hashtag #100HappyDays.

The goal is rather simple: every single day you post about something that made you happy. This can range from getting engaged - if that's your cup of tea - to finding a new book to read. I took on the challenge because I had become acutely aware of my negative mind-set and wanted to use this to remind me of the positive.   

Predicatively I struggled at the beginning but what kept me on my toes was that people regularly left a ♥ on the small tweets. The events of happiness ranged from getting accepted as a leader on DriveTribe to watching a fun race. With a few days to spare in December, I had completed the 100 day-report about a happy moment daily.

This was not the magic moment when all clicked into place and I went "oh yes, life ain't too shabby," but I had noticed that it was helping me improve my mental state. Thus, when 2017 reared its head, I started to take on the hashtag #Project365 - which is typically used for photographers to share one photo per day.

However, I decided to share a photo that represented one happy thing per day. Since my private twitter account had already been locked in 2017, I saw on harm on misusing the hashtag. 

This turned out to be the turning point in what changed my mindset about how I took on a day. It was a slow progress and also takes a lot of effort. On some days it is more exhausting to sift through the rubbish until I finally remembered that I had petted a dog and that was great fun.

On top of this, reminding myself daily that there is something good in every day helped me to accept that the whole day isn't lost just because shit happens. It has helped me to see that sometimes good things come to you on their own, while at other times you work hard for them and get a reward. Rarely you try hard but it wasn't enough in the end which is okay too because you gave your best. 

In the end, it helped me to handle stuff that was thrown at me much better because it wouldn't get hung up on small issues easily. Instead of getting into a downward spiral, I would look at the positive that had happened. This change of mindset made me feel more balanced and it changed from "well at least the day wasn't shit" to "it was nice to do this fun thing!"

This had been a process that had taken years and I still have down days but it all started by getting a - sometimes forceful - reminder that there is something good in every day.