Some work days are worse than others—your project hit a huge snag, everyone’s grumpy, your boss isn’t in the most understanding of moods, there’s no coffee in the pantry, and fate just seems to conspire against you. This can understandably make anyone feel miserable, but instead of simmering in frustration, have you ever thought about actually looking at the brighter side of things and laughing it all out?
Let’s face it: everyday, there’s something to be stressed about in the office. Just imagine if you just continue to be worried about so many things, day in and day out. You store that kind of negativity, and that’s not good for you physically, emotionally, and mentally.
A feature by organizational psychologist Karlyn Borysenko on Forbes notes that while you may not be able to control the situation you’re presented with, you may actually control how you perceive it. “What you experience in the world may be a direct result of how you’re constructing your emotions about the things happening to you,” says Karlyn. “You have more power than you think you do to create positive emotions, no matter what happens to you. And if you're able to proactively do just that, those positive emotions will lead you to make positive choices that will set you up for a greater chance of success.”
One way is to look for the silver lining behind every cloud. So your pitch got shot down—yes, that’s pretty frustrating, but at least you can now narrow your ideas down to client’s preferences. Your team is getting dissolved and management is moving you to another department—it’s admittedly a worrisome situation, but at least you still have a job.
Another way to deal with a bad work day is to just laugh. Laughing actually releases you from bad vibes, reduces your stress hormones, and can even give your abs a good work out.
You can laugh at your work woes, or you can just laugh at something else that’s totally unrelated to your issues (cute animal videos often do the trick). Or you can even take a break with your officemate, rant, and eventually laugh at the absurdity of it all.
The point is to learn to find the smallest things to be grateful about in ugly situations, and to always keep your humor intact. While you should allow yourself to acknowledge your true emotions and even cry it all out when things are too much, it’s also important to know that you can make things easier for yourself by not dwelling on the negative. We know that you’ve already heard this countless times, but actually try it on a crazy stressful day. A change of mindset can immediately make you feel better about everything.
