The Horrible, No Good, Worst Bad Day Ever

The horrible, no good, worst bad day ever began as soon as I woke up...or failed to wake up. I had been up all night finishing a 7 page paper for one of my communication classes. I had my alarm set, 3 alarms set actually, to ensure that I would be up on time to eat breakfast, collect myself, and get to my first class of the day. I set 3 alarms fully knowing my morning-hating self; also with the knowledge and previous experience that I would most likely roll over in a half-awake state of mind and most likely hit the 'snooze' button- or worse, 'dismiss alarm'. That's when my bad luck struck and the loud, annoying alarm was quickly dismissed by a tired, grumpy yet very comfortable and snug, me.

At the time, the dream I was having about snowboarding down a mountain and learning how to fly in the process was much more important than attending a psychology class in which I was scheduled to learn about split brain patients. The dream eventually ended with me floating into empty space, and ultimately woke myself in a panic. I sat up to look at the clock across the room, which read 10:56am. My class had started at 9:30am. I fell back into my pillow with feelings of disappoint...not only had I let myself turn off my alarm, sleep in and be too late to attend my class, my amazing dream had deflated into nothing.

When I eventually lifted myself and my feelings of disenchantment out of bed, I realized that I didn't have enough eggs, bacon, or even oatmeal for a full breakfast. My luck struck again. I decided to make what I had, and attend my second class of the day.

My second class of the day was normal, yet somehow was very agitating. Normally I enjoyed discussing health communication but for some reason I let my mood get the best of me, making this hour and a half class seem more like a dreaded 7 hour plane ride... stuck in one uncomfortable seat, nothing stimulating to do or look at, and listening to the same people next to you talk the entire time. My teacher finally dismissed the class, and I was excited to just get on with my day.

I headed to the gym to blow off some steam. Running usually gets my head on straight and puts me in a better place. I had just downloaded some new upbeat songs I was excited to run to. Yet again, my bad luck had to intervene. As I turned my iPod on, a red battery symbol started to blink on the screen: "Low battery". I would have sworn I had fully charged it last night. On the treadmill already, I started my warm-up jog before really getting in the zone. My five minutes of easy jogging were over, and the incline started to rise. Then... nothing. The treadmill simply shut off, mid-run, having lured me into a relaxed and ready to run state of mind and then stopping cold turkey. Determined to at least get a good workout in, I jumped onto the empty treadmill next to me and started over.

Getting home and feeling somewhat satisfied with myself for at least clearing my head at the gym, my boyfriend and I took his dog, a playful and well-behaved golden retriever named Marley, outside to play ball. On the field we throw the ball for Marley there is a small pond, usually full of algae and random ducks. Marley is usually really good about not going into the pond, however every now and then his natural retriever instincts mix with curiosity and he books it for the ducks floating peacefully on the pond. Today, of all days, Marley felt that urge. At first, the sight of him jumping into the murky, dark pond water was just another thing my bad luck seemed to control for the day. He would need a bath now, and would probably still smell from the dirty water.

Everything from that day just added up into one burst of laughter. At that point and time, the only thing I could do is laugh. Marley had no idea that I had overslept, my iPod battery was mysteriously dead, or that the broken treadmill had interrupted my run. He was just doing what he knew, and having the best time of his life. He wasn't worried about tomorrow, or that he was now covered in a brown, stinky film. As the ducks let out loud quacks and flew away, he swam back to my boyfriend and I with a look of accomplishment, like he had done his job as golden retriever.

Sometimes all it takes is another perspective to lift the black cloud hovering over you. I realized that everything I thought was bad luck or incidents that contributed to a really bad day are only because I had let it be bad... sometimes when you feel like you dove right into the filth, you end up swimming out feeling accomplished and happy despite all the gunk dripping off of you.