There’s a hashtag I had to do a double take with floating around the social media world. I’m sure it’s been around for a while, but it’s relatively new to me. I’m a little out of touch, so I apologize. All of a sudden I’m seeing posts with #NoBadDays attached to them. To this hashtag’s credit, they are usually posts of people working hard or enjoying life. I am going to go out on a limb and assume that the message behind it is that no day is bad, because there’s good in everyday. That’s what I am choosing to believe, because otherwise, I am just baffled. Not that it entirely matters, because that’s still wrong. Yup, that’s right, I said it. There’s no such thing as #NoBadDays.
“What a depressing thought!”, you might be saying.
It really isn’t though. Just hear me out with this.
Life is an amazing, beautiful, tragic, challenging, devastating, wonderful journey. It’s both exhilarating and traumatizing. We have our best days and our worst days. We have the time of our lives, and those times when we just don’t know how we’ll get out of bed in the morning.
You get both. If you live long enough (like past the age of 10, probably), you’ll end up having both of those experiences.
I heard a story in graduate school that I’ve probably re-told 1,349 times (accurate number for sure). We had a speaker come into a class and talk about life being on a scale of -2 to 2, or -10 to 10. If you choose the 2’s, you probably won’t experience anything that earth shattering, which can be a serious comfort.
However, your euphoria can only go as high as a 2. That probably doesn’t sound nearly as good of a deal. If you choose the 10’s, you can experience some seriously crushing situations. But you also get to soar as high as a 10. You get those moments that you remember for the rest of your life and warm your heart well into old age. They’re the moments that keep you going when shit gets really hard and remind you of all the good in the world and in your life.
The catch is, you can’t be on both scales.
You have to pick – 2’s or 10’s. You can’t, as much as we’d all love to, experience the -2 and the 10. 2’s or 10’s. Not both.
I share this story not just because it’s apparently what I do, but also because it relates to that #NoBadDays hashtag. How do you really appreciate those amazing days if you’ve never had a bad one? If you’ve never experienced failure, can you really appreciate the eventual success? Do you really understand what joy is if you’ve never had the sadness?
We all have bad days. It’s okay to have them, and to embrace them. Bad days are a part of life, and part of the full emotional spectrum. They’re part of living a full life.
So the next time you feel compelled, if you do, to jump on the #NoBadDays train – ask yourself: is it really possible? And if it is, do you want to live in the 2’s?
I dislike emotional turmoil as much as the next person, but I’ll take it any day of the week if I also get to experience level 10 happiness. It really is worth it.
#YesBadDays
Author: Rachel
Rachel is a licensed therapist and co-founder of Viva Wellness. She gets most of her inspiration for the blog while on the run, and if you ever need to find her, she’s probably in Central Park. If she’s not running, you’ll find her planning the next time she’s going to eat, exploring all things wellness in NYC, or raising her stress level by watching her sports teams.
