"Don't ruin a good today by thinking about a bad yesterday."

I know, it’s so easy to say the phrases; "Just get over it", "Let it go", "Try not to think about it","It’s in the past". While all of that might seem like beneficial advice, the sentiment of a bad day seems to still linger.  We’re quick to default to getting frustrated about a situation all because we’ve been primed by a bad day. This is a normal and evolutionary mindset. Our brains have been designed to notice the bad in our environment because it helped us with our survival.

Fortunately, that’s not our lives anymore. The stresses and issues that put us in a bad mood aren’t threatening our existence. They’re merely minor inconveniences. We cannot let a bad day ruin the present.

Thinking about a bad day is not the main issue. The real issue is over thinking, which gets us into trouble. With that in mind, I'm going to make a small tweak to the quote, and read it as, “Don’t ruin a good day by ruminating about a bad yesterday”. Overthinking leads to a cascade of negative emotions that could make make you frustrated and continue to think about the issue, thus, sustaining itself in a vicious cycle. 

So, it is really important to think about and process your bad days, because it’s through the process of reflection that you can discover yesterday’s purpose. Maybe it was teaching you a lesson, or preparing you for something greater. It could also humble you so that you can perform better in the future. And when you process the emotion, you can be grateful for what it offered you so you can move on emotionally.