People who handle stress well tend to employ what stress experts call an "optimistic explanatory style." They don't beat themselves up when things don't work out in their favor. So instead of using statements that catastrophize an incident, like "I'm a complete failure," they might say to themselves, "I need to work on my backhand."
-Shape.com, 20 Simple Stress Relief Techniques
The human mind is incredibly powerful. As the tip above and Jana's post from Tuesday suggest, with nothing more than a shift in how we think, we can turn our day, our attitude, and sometimes even our lives, around. The tip above is particularly useful for re-framing something we have done that didn't work out well. Now that's not to say that if we screw up, we should just con ourselves into thinking we didn't make a mistake. The point is not to run away from our mistakes. In fact, it's the exact opposite. The goal is to look at our challenges in a way that makes it seem possible to confront them without stress and to overcome them without anxiety. So try this: think of one thing you messed up this week (no matter how perfect we may be, we've all made at least one mistake in the last few days). Now how can you reframe it with the "optimistic explanatory style" described above?