Encouraging You to Give Yourself Grace on Off Days

Give us five minutes, we’ll give you encouragement!

Transcript

0:00:04 - Eric

Well, all right, there you are listening to your encouraging five-minute podcast. We're so thankful. My name is Eric. This is my friend Heather Hi, by the way, at the end of this podcast, after you've listened, if you need more encouragement, oh, it's easy way to get it. 

0:00:18 - Heather

Please listen to WPER, but if you're not within the exact listening area, you can listen on your smart speaker. You can even download the WPER app. 

0:00:28 - Eric

You ever have an off day. A lot of people call them a bad day. I don't like you know, there are good days. 

0:00:32 - Heather

I like off day a whole lot better. I do too yeah. 

0:00:35 - Eric

A bad day just sounds wrong to me. But if you've ever had an off day, call it whatever you want. You know the moments where you're just not feeling great. You know mentally, physically maybe, everything seems to pile up. You feel like things are worse than they are when they're in reality they're not, but you feel that way. 

0:00:52 - Heather

You feel it, and then every little inconvenience that happens only feels like it reinforces the fact that yep, all wrong, gone off the rails and that's exactly what happens All those negative thoughts, and you start, you know, playing the reels in your mind of things that have happened in the past. 

0:01:06 - Eric

Those resurface, those off days, don't mean, you know, you have an off life. 

0:01:10 - Heather

And I've heard you mention this before Heather. 

It's the thing we tried to teach our kids that you know like, because when they were little it was such a bad day and I'm like, is it a bad day or a bad moment? Yeah, you know. And then, okay, is it a bad moment or is it a bad minute? Is it a bad day or is it a bad week? So, if we start to break it down because there are legitimately things that will make a day pretty icky, absolutely. However, if we stop to take a moment and go, okay, that was a bad moment, I don't have to carry that with me, it's whether we choose to, you know, lop it in our backpack and carry it with us and let it make us angry and keep making us angry and really, you know, poison everything else that we're doing, or look at it at the moment and then just leave it in that moment, go okay, forgive yourself and move forward. 

0:01:57 - Eric

Heather is so right. I mean they say you have to allow yourself to feel those negative emotions or the things. Don't try to suppress it, don't try to pretend it's not happening. Just embrace it for a moment. Don't dwell on it, just embrace it. You don't have to analyze everything or link it back to something else. Accept it that it's happening and it's going to be okay. You know, life isn't about being happy all the time. No, because we know there are days when you are off. There are so many more when you are on. 

0:02:26 - Heather

Well, and here's the deal. I don't know how it works in your mind and in your mirror, but I'm really good at bringing stuff up that should have just been left in the past yeah, and kind of reinforce see, you never make good decisions, see, you always screw these things up. But what we have to do, especially when we talk about forgiving others, we have to be really quick to forgive ourselves. But here's the thing I never knew that forgiveness is not a one-time deal Like this is a gig you're going to have to repeat, because as many times as you beat yourself up over for something right, you have to forgive yourself for that. And I think that forgiveness works for the person we look at in the mirror, for the person that we keep rehashing oh, remember what they did? 

0:03:06 - Eric

Yeah, truly. So some practical things to do on those off days. Give yourself a little extra grace. Yes, listen to what your body is telling you. Do something that brings you joy Read a book. If you're not into reading, you grab your blanket, your soft what do you call? 

0:03:24 - Heather

it your softie, my soft clothes. It's not your jammies, it's your soft clothes. 

0:03:29 - Eric

Listen to your favorite music on WPER. We know that'll encourage you each and every time. If you have the app, use that, even just lying down for a few moments to rest, because sometimes your body just needs a moment to just take a break and rest. 

0:03:48 - Heather

And there's actually biblical proof that a snack and a nap will help, because there was a guy in the Bible named Elijah and God asked him to do a bunch of really hard stuff and he got really discouraged, like super discouraged, and he's like God, I don't even want to be alive anymore. I'm so angry right now. And the Lord said, okay, take a nap. And he took a nap and when he got up from his nap, God provided him with a snack. And God said, okay, go back and take another nap. So there are times when we do get frayed and frazzled, but when we keep our eyes focused on him, it says I think it's in. John, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Evaluate. Okay, why am I overreacting to this? Am I tired? Do I need a nap? Do I just need to sit and breathe and just be? 

0:04:30 - Eric

Yeah, and to focus on Him, to focus on God. Well, we hope you've been encouraged today and this is your Encouraging 5-Minute Podcast. If you need more encouragement right now, you can listen to WPER Virginia's home for encouragement. 

0:04:44 - Heather

Now you can listen on the radio the good old-fashioned way, right? You can also listen through the WPER app and if you don't have that app yet, you know you can get that right where you get your favorite apps.