Having “Bad Days” Are Important To Living A Meaningful Life

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Life is not just about finding joy and pleasure.

We devote so much of our time and energy in seeking joy and pleasure. After all, we want to live well!

But without the “downs”, there are no “ups”.

No one wants to experience sadness, grief, pain, or boredom. But the thing is, you can’t have joy, gratitude, satisfaction, and the other positive emotions without having the opposites as well. They are two-sides of the same coin; they are inextricably linked.

Emotions flow through us all the time. If you close yourself off to experiencing grief, sadness, anger, or any other of the “negative” emotions, you are inevitably also closing yourself off to feeling the positive emotions as well. And I doubt that any of you actually want to do that.

A life with neither positivity nor negativity would be very bland indeed.

The common view is that “good days” are the “right way” to living well, and that “bad days” are things to be avoided. However, they are both an essential part of life. You simply cannot appreciate a good day without having experienced a bad day. Sadness, grief and frustration are as real of a part of life as joy, contentment, and ease are.

We need to feel the emotions that we are going though, whether they are positive or negative. And then we choose how to respond to them. Negative experiences or emotions help us navigate the world; they provide information.

Embrace the idea that we can’t just chase happiness, and you are likely to find more happiness. Just enjoy and appreciate the ups and downs of life; they are all part of this incredible ride.

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Quotation that I have been pondering

Our world has become so complex; there is just an abundance of information available to us. While this is extremely positive, it’s difficult to know exactly what to pay attention to.

We can fall down many rabbit holes, and while they may be interesting, they come with a cost. The cost is our time. We have a finite amount of it in our lives, and so we need to focus our attention on:

• things that matter to us
• things that we can actually do something about

The rest is noise.

Are you willing to let yourself be ignorant? And if so, about what?

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Journal Prompt

In line with the above quotation from James Clear, you need to figure out what to pay attention to – and what you are going to ignore. I strongly suggest that you focus on areas that are within your control or influence, and that you have a strong interest in. Which leads us to this week’s journal prompt:

Decide and then respect your decision over the next week. And then observe how it has made you feel.

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Thanks for reading and giving me your attention! As per the above, I know how precious that attention is and I appreciate it! I truly believe that nothing is more important than striving to improve your career – and by extension your life – better.

Let me know if this content was helpful or not; just send me a quick note to tim@timparkins.com. Knowing what you find helpful and what you want more of will help me deliver even more value to you.

Have a great week!

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Tim

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