Do you ever wake up and everything just irritates you? You can’t decide what to wear. It doesn’t look good on you when you actually find something that might be okay, or it’s ‘weather-inappropriate’. You don’t have time to eat breakfast as you dozed through too many alarms. Your commute to work seems to be less smooth than normal, and even the other commuters annoy you just by being there. Then when you finally get to work, you’re irritated by your colleagues and their demands. Why can’t everyone just leave you alone for an hour, so you can get on top of what you need to do?! You just want to crawl back into bed and forget today.

Unfortunately that isn’t an option for most people, so to try and get back into the flow and turn your day around, here are a few tips which may help.

  • We all have days like this once in a while, it’s important to remember that. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
  • Think about when you last ate or drank something and what it was. Try and get some water and something nutritious (not processed) into you, such as some fruit and vegetables alongside some protein or whole grains.
  • If you can, take a five-minute walk, ideally outside. Just getting a few breaths of fresh air and moving your body will help to calm you.
  • Try listening to some calming, instrumental music with your headphones in while you work. This can also help to calm you and may also serve as a deterrent to colleagues disturbing you without a good reason.
  • Prioritise your to-do list. This can help you to get on top of things, so you feel a bit more in control of what have going on and less like your day is controlling you.

Tara Jackson is an author and health coach


Further reading

7 self-care tips for increasing energy at work

5 self-care tips for highly sensitive people

How does self-esteem differ from self-worth?

Why self-compassion beats self-discipline every time