How can you finish everyday on a good note?

Does it ever feel like all the stars must align to make you feel happy and satisfied with your day?

Set backs, small failures, frustrations are bound to happen on a day to day, even on a moment by moment basis. How can you not let all the little things bog you down?

Would it not be nice to just stay home everyday, to not face the challenges each day brings? Maybe even better, is just stay in bed and not worry about using energy to overcome gravity’s pull in the morning? To have no challenges, no issues, or problems to face at all. That would be nice.

This is simply not true. Everyone has responsibilities. Whether your working or a student or none of the above, you will have some tasks to do each day. Easy or difficult, mundane or exciting, things must get done.

I’m sure many can relate to how difficult it is to study for a major exam. You need energy, motivation, focus, and time to be able to perform well on exams and tests. I remember as a student, at times it felt like my studying was going nowhere. The hours and hours poring into the books, doing notecards, and answering practice questions felt endless. My morale would gradually diminish as finals came closer and the thought of how much more information I needed to know was overwhelming. There was just so much to do and so little time to do it. The stress of school for many students can have effects on mood, energy, and productivity.

Burn out?

If you felt the lack of motivation, joy, and pride with the work that you’ve accomplished in a day, then maybe you are feeling burnout. Commonly, one becomes cynical, feels depressed, and experiences fatigue is a by product of being burnt out. Or maybe you feel that you’re not doing what you are meant to be doing. Often, when people feel that there is lack of purpose in the work they do, they burnout more easily. This can happen to anyone, no matter what you do you can burnout.

How do you think this will effect you over time? When feeling burnt out, would it not have a more negative effect on you if unexpectedly something bad were to happen? Can you fix feeling burnout, that you can be in a better position to face hardship when it does come your way? Yes, being burnt out can make facing adversity even more difficult.

Counteracting Burnout Made Simple

Change your perspective of how your day went.

Here is a practice that I’ve found to be helpful in counteracting feelings of burnout and has helped me feel more positive and joyful with my day to day work. Try it!

Write down three things that you are thankful for each day will help change your perspective on the days events. Commit to doing this for one week at first and then reflect on how you feel by the end of it. It’s a simple exercise that takes less than 5 mins to do each day.

You could be the worlds most interesting person and have the most exciting job ever, or you may just be a person with a normal job working 8 hours a day, but you can still feel like the most interesting person and have excitement about how your day went.

When I first tried this out, I would share three things that I was thankful about from my day with a friend. At first, it was difficult to think of things to be thankful for. I found that some days it was easy to share about good events, but other days I could only think of the smallest things. Sometimes, I was just thankful for time for breakfast, a warm bed, and getting to work on time.  After two weeks, I felt that this was an easy way to help turn even the worst day into a decent one. Now, I’ve started to keep track of a list of things I’m grateful for and over the past three months I feel that I’ve definitely benefit with a more positive attitude. I have experienced less frequently feelings of fatigue, lack of motivation, cynicism, or depressed mood that comes with burnout even when I worked long hours in a stressful environment because I was able to change my perspective by being thankful.

I can say that, most recently while rotating in the intensive care unit ICU with the long hours and high stress environment would drain my mood and energy level at the end of long day. However, daily reflecting on the things that went well either at work, before, or after, it made me feel that overall my day wasn’t so bad. It has helped me realize that my day could have been worse and yet it wasn’t. Even though I did not find that I was fulfilling my life’s purpose while working in the ICU, I still felt a sense of joy and pride with the work I accomplished. I admit, some days I was too tired or too busy to remember to write three things down. But I was able to catch up on two or three days worth of reflections because it’s such a simple exercise to just write down three things. Being grateful has change how I saw the events from my day and gave me the ability to celebrate even the little victories that I would have overlooked. Truly, I felt more satisfaction from my day and more in control of how I felt.

Being Thankful Can Rub Off

Take for example, Valorie Kondos Field, the head coach of the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team, who has lived her life seeking to be as optimistic as she can be. In the face of being diagnosed with breast cancer, she was able to be optimistic. She decided to be grateful for the fact that her type of breast cancer was treatable, instead of one had no cure. This helped her to continue to be joyful despite having been diagnosed with breast cancer. In an interview podcast called, “Finding Mastery: Conversations with Michael Garvais,” she talks about her experience of facing her diagnosis of cancer. She states, “… the way I was not going to be anxious, was through gratitude.” She change her perspective in the face of great hardship from “I have to go through chemo therapy” to “I get to get chemo!” Later, in the interview she shares about how she would tell people that she was going to the “chemo spa” and that it was a place for her to to to get better and to heal, rather than place for cancer treatment. For her it’s all about her perspective. Valorie talks about more how by her upbringing she was taught to be always upbeat and grateful, and this has allowed her to face any challenge with optimism. Her goal as head coach of UCLA women’s gymnastic team is to help young girls to focus more on building character and confidence, rather than just being the best gymnast. One thing she said that stood out was that she is always thankful for “having a choice,” she believes that life is about living out your choices and that makes her excited each day.

If you have the time, Valorie’s story is amazing to listen to and has impressed me with her optimism. Check out the podcast at https://findingmastery.net/valorie-kondos-field/

You can also visit her website http://officialmissval.com, to learn more about her and to be inspired by her story.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; – Philippians 4:6

After you have tried out simply writing down three grateful things for a week and find that you liked it, don’t stop doing it! If you need help staying committed to getting into the habit of reflecting on a daily basis there is this “The Five Minute Journal: A Happier you.” This is a beautifully put together journal that helps you be more grateful and reflect on your day in a very neat and organized manner. There are also amazing quotes and challenges that help keep you engaged. Check it out: http://a.co/dFMLbF0

Remember, YOU are valuable.