On a bad day, small physical actions help more than big plans: drink a glass of water, wash, get dressed, step outside for a few minutes, eat something nourishing, change the room you are in, put on a song you love, finish one tiny task, and step away from the screen. Then give yourself permission to feel low without needing to fix everything today. None of these is a cure for real problems, but together they can lift a heavy mood by a notch or two, and a notch is often enough to get going.
The list below began as a BuzzFeed piece illustrated by Maritsa Patrinos, with ideas from a popular Tumblr checklist for when everything feels awful. Here we explain why each step tends to work and how to make it easier when your energy is close to zero.
Why small actions work on a bad day
When mood drops, the instinct is to wait until we feel better before doing anything. Psychologists have found it often works the other way round. Behavioural activation, a well-tested approach for low mood and depression, is built on the idea that doing small, manageable, rewarding things comes first and that motivation follows. Each little action gives the brain a bit of evidence that you can still affect your day.
The trick is to keep every step tiny. "Sort out my life" is impossible on a bad morning. "Drink a glass of water" is not. The ten steps below are ordered roughly from easiest to hardest, so you can start at the top and stop wherever you need to.
Look after your body first (steps 1 to 5)
1. Drink a glass of water
Mild dehydration can leave you foggy, headachy and irritable, and it is easy to miss when you are distracted by how you feel. A big glass of water is the simplest reset there is. Skip the sugary drinks and go easy on caffeine and alcohol, which can make anxiety and sleep worse. The NHS suggests six to eight glasses of fluid a day for most adults. We have written more about why dehydration matters.
2. Take a shower
Getting clean marks a small border between the bad night and the rest of the day. Warm water relaxes tense muscles, and a cooler finish can feel energising. Take a minute to massage your scalp while you wash your hair. If a full shower is too much, washing your face and putting on clean clothes still counts.
3. Make your bed
A made bed is a quick, visible win, and it makes crawling back under the covers a little less tempting. The idea was famously championed by retired US Navy admiral William McRaven in a 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas, where he argued that finishing one small task first thing sets up the rest of the day. It also leaves your room looking calmer when you come back to it.
4. Take a walk
Even five minutes outside helps. Daylight helps set your body clock, movement eases tension, and a change of air interrupts the loop of gloomy thoughts. Regular physical activity is one of the best-supported ways to improve mood; the NHS and the World Health Organization recommend about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults, but on a bad day a slow walk around the block is plenty.
5. Eat something nourishing
Comfort food tends to comfort for about ten minutes. Something with protein, fibre and a bit of colour, such as eggs on toast, yoghurt with fruit, or soup with bread, keeps your energy steadier. You do not need a perfect meal. Avoiding a long stretch without food is what matters most, because hunger makes everything feel worse.
Change the scene and the mood (steps 6 and 7)
6. Change your environment
Staring at the same four walls makes a bad day feel endless. If you can, take your work to a café, a library or a friend's kitchen. Having gone somewhere is a small accomplishment in itself. If you cannot leave, open the windows, move to a different room, clear one surface or rearrange something that has been bothering you for weeks.
7. Dance to an upbeat guilty-pleasure song
Music changes mood quickly. Pick something cheerful that you secretly love, turn it up and move, however badly. Music you enjoy is linked to the release of dopamine, one of the brain's reward chemicals, and moving to it adds the benefit of exercise. Save the sad songs for another day; they can deepen a low mood when you are already down.
Do one useful thing (steps 8 and 9)
8. Accomplish something
Choose one task you have been avoiding and make it as small as possible: reply to one email, pay one bill, wash one pan. Then actually congratulate yourself. Ticking off something concrete is a direct antidote to the feeling of being useless that often comes with a bad day. Remember that you cannot solve every problem in a single day, and you do not have to.
9. Step away from the screen
Scrolling feels restful but often is not. Studies on social media use have found that passive scrolling through other people's feeds is linked to worse mood for many users, especially when it invites comparison. Put the phone in another room for an hour and do something with your hands or your body instead: some gentle exercise, a few pages of a book, a call with a friend, or time with family, housemates or pets. We have also looked at how smartphones affect conversation.
Allow yourself to have a bad day (step 10)
10. Give yourself permission to feel rotten
The last step may matter most. You are allowed to have a bad day without fixing it. Fighting a low mood, or feeling guilty about it, adds a second layer of distress. A 2018 study by psychologist Brett Ford and colleagues found that people who tend to accept their negative emotions, rather than judge them, report fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety over time. Let the feeling be there, rest if you need to, and trust that tomorrow is a new start. Sometimes you need to fall down before you can get back up.
When a bad day turns into bad weeks
Everyone has rough days, and the steps above are meant for those. If low mood lasts more than a couple of weeks, if you lose interest in things you normally enjoy, if sleep and appetite change a lot, or if you have thoughts of harming yourself, talk to a doctor. These are signs that you deserve more support than a checklist, and help works. In the US you can call or text 988 at any time; elsewhere, your doctor or local emergency number can direct you to support.
Sources: Based on a BuzzFeed list by Maritsa Patrinos (illustrations by M. Patrinos) and the Eponis Tumblr checklist; NHS, Tiredness and fatigue; 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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