Surviving the Worst Days (Even the Ones That Smell Like Regret and Burnt Toast)

Pep Talk from Tariq

(Certified Chaos Magnet, Shadow Strategist, Big Brother with Opinions)

Oh snap, from the look on your face, this has got to be the kind of day where you swear you’re stuck in a broken elevator between Super Bad Luck and Existential Dread. I bet every button you press just starts playing that awful hold music. You might as well push the fire department call button and meditate in the corner while you wait for them to pry the doors open.

What thing put you on this elevator of dread? Maybe you messed up something mega important. Or perhaps a perfectly good plan fell apart mid-sentence, and now you’re just trying to duct-tape your dignity back together while a skull with a gold tooth laughs from a safe distance.

I've also been there. Mostly on Thursdays right after I get assigned Ethics of Reaping homework.

Here’s the deal: you’re allowed to have awful days.
No matter how hard you try to avoid it there are going to be mornings where the best you can do is show up looking like a chaos gremlin with mud in your hair and the most energy you can give is survival-level vibes.

You don’t need anyone telling you what to do with your life. Especially not someone who tries to tell you to smile when you don’t feel like it.
But just in case you want it here it your permission slip to be angry, exhausted, petty, lost, unproductive, or one dropped pen away from losing it entirely and joining your cousin Fred down at the circus. The world doesn’t need you to be a hero today.

This morning (or afternoon) all you got to do is hunker down and hold the line.

Sometimes, to get through the worst day all you need to do is not quit.

Let go of the need to make a thirty-two-step plan for achieving awesome status. All you got to do is keep moving, even if it’s just from the bed to the bathroom and back.

And if someone dares to ask you, “What happened, and why do you look like that?”

You grunt two times look them dead in the eye and say, “I survived. Barely. But also brilliantly.”

Because you did.

Now chin up. If the world throws another disaster at you, give it your best clap back and the meanest version of your “I’m still here so deal with it” face.

- Tariq out.

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