There’s this thing I do each night as I pull the covers up and say farewell to the day. It might sound strange.
I toss my decorative pillows from the bed.
It started without much thought, but then it morphed into an expression of hostility toward a bad day or exuberance over a good one.
Sometimes it’s a playful lob in the air, and other times it’s a powerful zing tearing across the room. It’s my little way to shed the badness of a rotten day. Plus, it’s strangely satisfying to throw pillows.
Of course, the action itself doesn’t fix anything. The bad day still happened, and there’s a good chance it will affect my tomorrow. Dealing with that takes a lot more than a good pillow toss.
I guess we all deal with stuff in our own way, but here’s a few “pillow-tossing” suggestions to get you through your next rough patch.
Keep the pillow in perspective.
It’s just a pillow—not the end of the world. Besides, there’s always someone who’s had it worse. My bad day won’t be the worst thing to every happen. The good times and the bad ones should not be the things that define us.
You’ll have to put them back tomorrow.
As happy as it makes me to toss my pillows, I still have to make my bed in the morning and put the pillows back in place, and that’s okay. Tomorrow is a new day. We clean up our messes. Take responsibility for our stuff and start over again.
Throw it like you mean it.
Whether it’s a playful whirl or a fast, overhanded pitch, be all in—even on the bad days. We get one shot at life down here. We might as well thoroughly experience it all. This might be the only place we ever get to have bad days. Don’t miss out on the experience because you wished it away!
No real targets.
By this I mean, don’t let your bad day spill over on everybody else. Don’t throw the pillow specifically at somebody. That can cause more problems. I’m not saying to not talk about it. Just don’t go blaming or being mean to someone else just because things didn’t go the way you wanted them to.
Share the pillows.
This one’s hard for me. We only have two little pillows so if I share I only get one. But I love my husband, so I share. He sometimes needs a stress-relieving pillow toss too. I respect that. And when I share, I’m not alone. It’s good to realize I’m not alone in the dark having big problems and throwing tiny pillows.
I guess that’s all the wisdom from the pillow tossing. There’s just one more thing I want to share about getting through a bad day.
It will be okay.
I can say that because I know God cares. He’s real and cares. He’s not a crutch or a genie. He’s our Father, and he loves us, and even the worst of days is okay because he will help us. He already has. And lest you think that’s not true for you, let me just say that there’s a reason why you read to the end of this blog post, and it really has nothing to do with pillows. You are loved.
“No real targets”…very good advice and often overlooked 🙂
Thanks, Zac! Something I learned from experience!