Turning a Miserable Day into a Great One

I had rather a miserable start to the day yesterday. I woke up with a nasty cough and to find that I had lost my voice completely (my husband asked if this meant that I had to stop talking and try listening instead). I got to work and decided to treat myself to a breakfast of latte, hash browns and toast, only to find that the hash browns were cold and cardboard like.  All of that I could have coped with, except, barely had the day started when I realised I had had a little accident… I got up from my desk to find that there was a pretty little pinkish design on the back of my brown abayah, I had managed to ruin my clothing like a careless teenager. This is something I am very paranoid about, but also super careful about, so I was horrified. I legged it to the bathroom and called my husband to come and rescue me. The poor man left his breakfast to come and get me and drive me home to get changed and drop me back to work again.

The funny thing is that almost no-one noticed I was wearing a different colour abayah and scarf (definitely black after that little incident). One of my colleagues had kindly covered for me, when I got back to my desk my manager even asked me how my meeting had gone.

With the heat, my cough and lost voice and the embarrassing incident, I decided to take my day in a different direction. I am a big believer in trying to make the most of each day and bringing a little bit of joy and pleasure into each day. I believe that we should work hard for the future goals that matter to us, but that the day to day journey towards those goals should be beautiful also.

So after I got home and got changed, I touched based with each of the children and my mum-in-law to ask how their day had been and to see how they were. I spent a little time putting the house back in order as I find this very soothing. Then I grabbed Little Lady and was back out of the door. We went shopping, I bought her some new dresses as she seems to outgrow things over night. I bought myself a lovely statement necklace which Little Lady has her eye on:

I bought a ton of ice-lollies and ice-creams for everyone (about 50). Everyone else seemed to have the same idea as there was a scrum by the freezers in the supermarket.

I got home and made everyone dinner (my friends the leftovers ). Then hubby and I went for a walk. It was one of those balmy evenings, where after a hot day, the evening had a beautiful cool breeze. Perfect walking weather. We always talk and catch-up and plan during our walks and I just love them. When we got back, he went out again with his mum and the kids to the park and for slushees. This meant that mum-in-law could take a walk too (at a slower pace) and the kids could get knackered out before bed time. It also meant that I and Little Lady could hang out together and enjoy the quiet for a little while.

By the end of the day, it just felt as if I had had a beautiful day and I felt so content alhamdulillah. Sometimes the smallest things make all of the difference. A change to your routine or a decision to give yourself a break and unshoulder some of your burden: letting the kids go to bed later, or ordering take-away instead of cooking. Treating yourself to something nice, enjoying a food you love or catching up with a good friend. At any given time, we can make the decision to change the trajectory of our day by taking steps to make a day that is not going well into a great one.