Early one morning a few weeks ago, I was doing my usual strut to work when all of a sudden the heel came off of my right shoe. By some miracle I didn't fall on my face, but I was personally offended.  'How Rude!' were the exact words that popped into my head.  

Right then and there I declared that day to be a bad day, and without realizing it, I did my best to make sure it was exactly that.  I can't remember how many times I said 'bad day' to myself, not to mention the countless reenacting and retelling of the 'horrible' incident to anyone who was kind enough to listen. Needless to say, that Monday was not my favorite. 

Upon reflection, it made me wonder how many times I've done that.  How many times have I allowed my inner drama queen to take an unfortunate 5 minutes, or bad experience and turn it into so much more? I mean in the grand scheme of things, a broken shoe is unfortunate, it is embarrassing even; but unless I face plant and end up with my skirt over my head in the middle of the office lobby, does it really constitute a bad day? 

On the other hand, if I am being honest with myself, I am a perfectly imperfect human being.  I will get overwhelmed and I will have meltdowns, and that's okay with me.  What's not okay is climbing into them and making them my home.

So from now on, when something bad happens, I'll ask myself, is this a bad day, or just a bad 5 minutes? If it's a bad 5 minutes I will do my best to shake it off, but when it turns out to be a legitimate bad day of epic proportions..... then pass the Ben & Jerry's baby 'cause mama's having a meltdown!