5 ways to deal with the bad news that ruin your day
Bad news. The most horrible words anyone ever wants to hear. A sure trigger for anxiety, shock, depression, and other serious negative feelings. Receiving bad news is awful and it is important to keep your feet on the ground, give yourself time and regroup.
Here is a step by step guide to dealing with bad news.
1-Give yourself time to process
In order to cope with bad news, you must take a day or two (or more depending on the gravity of the situation). Allow yourself this time to feel what you need to feel. Stay home all day if you must, eat ice cream, and sleep a lot. You need this time to recuperate, get your thoughts back on track. At this time, your emotions are quite high and it might be difficult for you to rationalize anything. This is a normal process and believe me, it will pass, When you are ready, you will find a way to adapt and will do all the necessary steps to deal with the situation.
“Peace starts with suffering. Freedom starts with confinement. Courage starts with fear. Strength starts with surrender. Every mountain starts from beneath the earth, and you too, shall rise.” – Medusa
2-After grieving, step out and interact with the outside world
Coping with bad news also means that you need an outlet. Go outside, breathe in the fresh air. Meet a friend, go for a drive, take a walk, meditate. Practice mindfulness and be aware of what is going on around you. This is a good time to practice relaxation techniques.
“Success and failure can both make you lose appetite and concentration, don’t let it bother or over-excite you, just think them away as a mere thing that had just happened, and get along with your life.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson
3-Do some research, tackle distorted thoughts
At this point, in order to cope with the bad news, you will need to do some research to learn how to tackle the problem. If it’s still too difficult to focus, ask for help. If you are going to face something inevitable, study relaxation techniques and research the topic. Knowledge is power. The situation you are in might not be 100% the end of the world. It might affect 30 or 10% of your life. Researching the problem will help bring you back on track with the reality of the situation.
“Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it’s the key to victory over fear and it’s cousin, depression.”
― Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
4-Let it go
Practice unconditional love. Forgive (or accept) and let go.
If a person has caused the terrible news, letting go might be the most difficult thing that you will ever have to do. It may take years (and therapy if necessary) to heal from a betrayal. Remember that everyone has a story and everyone has had to cope with bad news at least once in their lifetime. The abusers have almost always been abused, emotionally neglected and hurt during their life. When someone who is hurt doesn’t have adequate support or help, they sometimes will become resentful and inadvertently end up hurting many people around them in many ways. Sometimes it is also the culture that someone is raised in that will push a certain behavior, like women’s oppression or animal abuse. They do not see peace and might never find it. This is their karma, not yours. Hatred is exhausting. They are the ones suffering from a diseased soul.
“To ease the pain, erase the anger.”
― Anthony Liccione
5-Transform the negative energy into positive energy
When terrible things happen, we have two choices: We either dwell on them or we use what we learned from the situation and turn it into a strength. There are many ways that we can turn things around which will help us cope with the bad news.
- Helping others who are going through the same thing
- Writing articles on the subject
- Going back to school or taking up a few classes to broaden your knowledge
- Getting a new job that has more appreciation for your talents
- Making friends who have gone through similar situations
- Expressing yourself artistically (the best songs are always written when one feels down)
“You will face hard times in life. Sometimes they are supposed to come, sometimes not. Get through them no matter what, ‘cause the good life is always on the other side.”
― F.C.
Energy transformation is primordial to well being. Dwelling on the problem indefinitely is not healthy. Take some time, but do get up. You owe it to yourself.
“Don’t live the same day over and over again and call that a life. Life is about evolving mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.”
― Germany Kent
Why do bad things always happen to me?
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