The Psychology Behind Why Bad Days Seem to Get Worse

If you're having a bad day, this story might be exactly what you need to hear right now.

The alarm feels too early. The traffic is worse than usual. Someone says something that rubs you the wrong way. One inconvenience piles onto another until you're convinced the entire day is a disaster.

But what if that's not the whole story?

Our brains are constantly filtering information. Out of the thousands of sights, sounds, interactions, and experiences we have every day, we only consciously notice a small fraction of them. And what we notice is often influenced by what we're already expecting to find.

Psychologists call these mental shortcuts cognitive biases.

They're not a sign that something is wrong with us. In fact, they're our brain's way of being efficient. The problem is that sometimes our brains become so focused on finding evidence for one idea—"This is a terrible day," "Nobody cares," "Nothing ever works out"—that they miss other important parts of the picture.

The story below is a simple example of what can happen when we remember that we have the ability to redirect our attention.

Not to pretend everything is okay.

Not to ignore the difficult things.

But to remind ourselves that there is often more in front of us than our brain is currently noticing.