It kinda feels weird to say we need cloudy days. Not in the literal sense (while that is true) but also symbolically.

A cloudy day has its own vibe. It’s mellow, relaxing, and peaceful.

And yet, on some cloudy days I feel a little bit in a funk, down in the dumps.

Every morning I journal. I strive to write three pages of thoughts only for myself, and lately it’s been a struggle to get one page written.

Not this morning. Not on this cloudy day.

The words flew across the page. I got a lot out of my system, and it felt really good to do so. I didn’t have anything earth shattering that caused my funk. It just happened.

The universe aligned itself, again.

I’m a huge believer in the universe (insert higher power, God, Buddha, etc.) aligning itself and it did so again.

After journaling, I went back through emails over the last couple of days. I opened James Clear’s 3-2-1 weekly email from Thursday. Side note: if you don’t subscribe to his newsletter, do yourself a favor and do it.

I don’t know why I didn’t read it on Thursday or Friday, but now I do. The newsletter was meant for me to read today. One of quotes from others in the newsletter was an excerpt from actor Stephen Fry and it was about getting through bad days. You can read the entire piece here.

In short, Fry compared having a bad day to the weather. If it’s not what we want it to be, we can’t wish it away. However, it will change.

“In the same way that one has to accept the weather, so one has to accept how one feels about life sometimes. ‘Today’s a crap day,’ is a perfectly realistic approach.”

Stephen Fry

Fry goes on to say that eventually the sun will shine again.

And he’s right.

Call to action.

If today is one of those days, that’s okay. I think a lot of times we don’t give ourselves permission to have a down day. We try to put on a brave face for the world to see when inside we don’t feel that way.

Instead, give yourself permission to have a down day. Here are some ideas that might help when you’re having a day:

• Feel into the feelings even if it feels hard to do so. The release will do wonders.
• Write about it. Not everyone likes to write things down, because they fear someone else finding what they’ve written. That’s cool. Write it down, tear it up, and throw it away.
• Another thought is to write it down and then light it on fire. There’s something very therapeutic about letting those thoughts burn to ashes.
• Go for a walk. Get out in nature. Take some deep breaths.
• Do some simple stretching or yoga so that you’re focusing on something physical.
• Talk it out with a loved one. Let them know that you don’t want them to interrupt or solve any problems. You just need to someone to listen as you word vomit.
• Take a nap. Sometimes just giving in to extra sleep is exactly what you need.

Just remember that we all have cloudy days. We have stormy days. We have days that just suck. The sun will always return.

Be well, friends.