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The problem with bad days is that you just don’t know how they got there. No one wakes up and decides to have a bad day. But if you’re like most, a series of unfortunate events can quickly add up to stress and frustration and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what happened.

So, how do you recover from a bad day? Here are some tips.

1.) Be Aware of Triggers

When I was a school teacher, I had some bad days. Not a lot of them, but enough to tip off my husband when I came home.

Yet whenever he noticed I was a little off and would ask what went wrong, or why I was upset, I honestly couldn’t tell him. I just couldn’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong that made me feel like I had a less than stellar day.

Knowing that one of the keys to maintaining a positive outlook is taking thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), I knew I needed to be aware of what I was thinking, or what was causing me frustration, but I honestly couldn’t tell!

So, I decided to ask the Holy Spirit to nudge me every time I was experiencing something that was having a negative impact on my emotions, and I would take note of what was happening.

Before long, I began to realize that almost every day, little things were getting under my skin – things that I really had no conscious recollection of at the end of the day, but in the moment, I tried to process them as best I could and just move on.

What I discovered was that all these “little things” that I had shrugged off, in the end added up to me having a bad day.

With this information in hand, and a little help from God, I began becoming more sensitive to the little things that frequently amounted to big frustrations by the end of the day.

Once I began processing the little frustrations by either saying a quick prayer, or speaking the truth over myself, I was able to prevent the pressures of the day from building up and I had much fewer bad days as a result.

2.) Stop Taking Offense and Move on

If you happen to be aware of what (or who) really sets you off day in and day out, then you’re probably rehearsing your offenses over and over again in your mind all day long.

But you can’t recover from a bad day if you keep incessantly going over the details with anyone and everyone who will listen.

The bible teaches in Philippians 3:13 that sometimes we just have to move on.

“…dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,…”

And you won’t be able to move on if you keep carrying around offenses.

The word “offense” in the Greek refers to the bait in a trap. Every time that something doesn’t go your way, it’s like the enemy is placing a nice, big, juicy piece of bait right in front of you and tempting you to take it!

Notice what happens if you take the bait – YOU get trapped! Not the person who offended you, but YOU!

So when stressful situations pop up, or when people make you mad, ask yourself, “Is it worth taking the bait?” Because if you do, you’ll be trapped for as long as you hold on to the offense.

3.) Start Doing What you Love

Out of hundreds of thousands of occupations in the world and the incredible amount of opportunity in this county, it’s truly shocking to me when people can’t seem to find a job that they enjoy.

However, I’ve found this to be a common thread among many people I meet – they just don’t like what they’re doing. And not loving what you do on a daily basis can be a major cause for stress and bad days.

Ironically, I find that most people’s solutions are to tell themselves to suck it up and just be thankful they have a job.

And while that can certainly be a good bit of wisdom under the right circumstances, you need to be honest with yourself about how many of your “bad days” are a result of not liking what you do.

We’ve all heard the stories of students who at one time felt forced by their parents to become a doctor or business person, only to discover they had a love for the arts and abandoned their formal education to pursue their passion.

No doubt there will be challenges in pursuing your dreams, but following your passion and doing what you love to do each day, can help you finish even the most stressful days in peace.

If you love what you do, and do what you love, recovering from a bad day can simply equate to sharpening your craft and becoming even better than you were the day before.