Not Every Day is the Best Day

 

Yesterday wasn’t my best day. Nothing went dreadfully wrong. It wasn’t earth-shattering or awful. It just wasn’t the best day.

            I chose to stand up for myself and then spent the rest of the day second-guessing that decision.

            I advocated for my needs in another situation and felt I had exasperated the person I went to for help. (It wasn’t Ryan.) While I can advocate for others (and did it as a career for almost two years), I’m still not great at going to bat for my own needs. I never want to be a bother, and yesterday I felt I’d been a bother.

            The dinner I planned (with great excitement) ended up taking about three times as long to make as I envisioned it would. I’m usually really good about cooking estimates, so that surprised and frustrated me.

            My attempts to be helpful in another situation ended up backfiring, and while I didn’t take it personally, it added to the dings of the day.

            When Ryan came home, and I served the delayed dinner, I said, “This wasn’t my favorite day.” He told me he was sorry and agreed that the blah days are just no fun.

            First, I should say that while I'm speaking in generalities, these events are in no way a dig at or reflection of the work I'm doing. They were just life situations that all popped up at once. Secondly, I say all of this simply because I know all of us have days just like this one. What do we do with them? That is what matters.

            I decided that I wanted to try to make the best of it, even in its blah-ness. I couldn’t kick the second-guessing, so I journaled about it and tried to move on from that story.

            I reminded myself that when I asked for help, I wasn’t unreasonable, and even though I frustrated someone else, it was just going to have to be okay. I legitimately needed the help, and I went to the person with the answers. Maybe it wasn’t her best day either.

            Dinner may have taken a ridiculously long time, but it sure did taste good. That’s a win.

            As for the help backfiring…I was honoring the request that had been made of me and my intentions were good. I can’t force the person on the other end to receive it as such, and I decided not to bear the burden that wasn’t mine to bear.

            Ryan and I went for a walk, we watched the sunset over the lake, I had a good talk with our neighbor, one of my friends had the best day of HER life and texted to tell me about it – giving me a chance to celebrate the amazing news, and I had a chance to read in a new book. These are all good things. I rejoice in them.

            So if you have a day that isn’t the best, it’s okay. Don’t sweep it under the rug or write it off as a loss. Do what you can to find the good in it and know that tomorrow is coming – and a whole passel of brand new mercies with it.

            God is good – even when the day isn’t our favorite!