A Bad Day Can Bring Rewards
I’m having a bad day. It started with the morning news after Trump called off negotiations for another stimulus bill. Coronavirus deaths topped 212,000, and when I went outside for a walk, it started to rain. The trouble continued. I got a late notice for a bill I had already paid. The milk soured in the refrigerator. My dog puked on the rug.
Is there a conspiracy afoot to make me miserable, perhaps one led by Trump with help from the devil?
I don’t think so, but I did sneak a glance at my horoscope. After all, while today is a bad day, I have had occasional good ones. Last week, for example, it was 68 degrees and clear here, perfect weather for biking and a long walk. I did both. Great, but although I got some much-needed exercise, I didn’t gain any wisdom, at least nothing I can remember.
Bad Days Can Help You
Could it be that bad days are better than good ones, at least in some regards? Do bad days open opportunities that otherwise would go unexplored?
Let me use an example from my not-so-smooth start as a writer on Medium. I was fortunate in getting positive responses to a few of the first articles I wrote. “I’m on my way,” I thought.
Well, I wasn’t. The next few pieces I wrote were duds. In one case, a single clap. The stats page devastated me. I considered quitting Medium. And writing.
Fortunately, I didn’t. After cooling down, I tracked down a couple of articles explaining the curation standards of Medium. In less than an hour, I signed up for Grammarly. I committed to leaving my passive voice in the past, and I learned the difference between a blockquote and a pull quote.
I’m not out of the woods yet, but things seem headed in the right direction. It’s great that my next article’s Medium earnings may be more than $0.12, but, more importantly, my writing is improving.
A close encounter with cream of crab soup, followed by indigestion, taught me to write off this delicious dish permanently. Several frustrating attempts to repair my riding lawn mower taught me to read the owner’s manual, order parts online, and invest in quality tools.
