What Do You Do On Struggle Days?

A Distorted World View

On any social media, whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or whichever platform you’re on, we only seem to see the successes.

The “How I did X in just 30 minutes a day”. The “How I quintupled my revenue by just doing these 3 things”. The “I gained this luxury house and powerful sports car, by…”. The “Look how amazing my hair/skin/life/kids are”. It can all make you feel inferior.

It paints a distorted view of the world.

The reality is that we all have days when we struggle. Anyone who tells you different isn’t living in the real world. However few you may have, everyone will have days like this.

Today, I had one of those days. It’s been brewing for a few days, and it is prompted by self-doubt. Nothing horrendous happened. Nothing went wrong. I’m just off.

In fact, I had a good day at first. I retook my first aid qualification on a great course, with a superb trainer, and I successfully passed the course. I left the course knowing that I had improved my knowledge.

I’m not entirely sure what has prompted it, but sometimes it happens and it makes me feel sick. Like really sick. A horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. A heavy feeling in my head, like a headache but not a headache. A flatness in my energy, no zing to me.

This is the time I start doubting. Doubting everything. It might seem a bit extreme, but that is just the way I am wired. I’ve lived with it a long time, but it always hits me square in the face each time it hits. I’m always derailed by it when it happens. Unmanaged, it can spiral downwards.

Coping Mechanisms

I have some coping mechanisms that I use, including the following:

Exercise – ramping up those endorphins gives me that buzz to push toward positivity
Music – either ramping up a soft rock or pop beat, or turning up the sad songs to 11, pushes emotions through my body like flushing out a system
Movies – either laugh-out-loud comedies or tear-jerking memoirs have a similar effect to the music – it pushes emotions through the system

Sometimes these will push it through overnight, sometimes it stays for a few days.

I feel vulnerable, I feel exposed, I feel like I’m not worth it.

I have to turn that thinking around either by doing the above or by talking it out. I’ll be honest about talking it out. I’m not good at that. I’m great at listening and offering suggestions, but I am absolutely rubbish at opening up about my vulnerabilities and asking for someone to listen.