Bad Start = Bad Day. I Realised I’ve Been Running This Story for 38 Years

Where did the saying even come from? “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

I’ve been thinking about this because this morning I caught myself running a story I didn’t even know was a story. I thought it was just reality. The way days work. Bad start = bad day. The domino effect. One thing goes sideways and suddenly you’re collecting evidence all day to prove it was always going to go this way.

You wake up in a panic. Slept through your alarm, grab your phone — fck, I’m late. Stub your toe on the bed frame. Toast in mouth, running out the door. Hop in the car ready to fly and there’s a fcking garbage truck blocking the whole road. Whole day written off before it even started.

This morning it showed up differently, more subtly. My Grab driver’s energy was really off.

And I could already feel the story coming up. Even though I was trying to push it down. The fear was there: oh no, low vibe things are happening... does this mean I’m going to have a bad day?

Then I sat down, took one sip of water and choked so dramatically — tears streaming, sweating, strangers staring, disrupting the peace in a very quiet, chill cafe.

And that was it. Old program fully booted.

“See. I knew it. Bad start = bad day.”

Part of me genuinely wanted to validate it. To say yes, this is evidence, this confirms the story. To let the day be written off and just get through it.

Instead I opened this journal. And I started writing.

The first question I asked myself: what is the common denominator in all of this?

Me. Not the driver. Not the rubbish truck I’d clocked on the way. Not the universe being against me. Me and the story I decided to run the second something went sideways.

And then I got curious about it. Not judgmental. Just curious. Interesting. Where does this even come from?

As an ADHD person I feel the extremes of everything. Highest of highs, lowest of lows. And I genuinely love to spiral. So part of this is just how I’m wired. But part of it is also 38 years of collected data, my own experiences layered on top of a cultural story we’ve all been handed and never questioned. I threw my own spin on it, stacked evidence on top of evidence, and turned “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” into a self-fulfilling prophecy running on autopilot every single day.

It’s like having an iPhone 17 Pro Max but still running software from your first phone a Nokia 8210. The hardware upgraded but the program never did.

Why our brains do this

There’s actual neuroscience behind it and understanding this helped me so much.

It’s called negativity bias. Our brains are wired to give more weight to negative experiences than positive ones. It’s an evolutionary survival mechanism. Back when we were dodging predators, noticing threats kept us alive. But in 2026, the threat is a garbage truck and a Grab driver with a bad vibe, and our nervous system still responds like it’s life or death.

On top of that, the moment you decide it’s a bad day, your Reticular Activating System, the brain’s filter, starts finding evidence everywhere to confirm that decision. Your brain is literally curating a bad day highlight reel to prove you right.

And if you’re an ADHD girlie like me who feels everything at the extremes and genuinely loves a good spiral? This hits even harder. Because once the story starts running, it runs fast.

So I did something right there in that cafe. Four steps, in my journal, as I was writing this out. And by the time I was done my whole day had shifted.

Step 1 — Awareness

Notice you’re running the story. That’s it. No judgment, no fixing it yet. Just see it for what it is — a story. A program that’s been running on autopilot. The moment you name it, it loses power. You can’t change what you can’t see.

Step 2 — Compassion

This is the step people skip and it’s the most important one. Don’t shame yourself for running the story. Your nervous system learned this pattern to keep you safe. It was doing its job.

I literally wrote this to myself: “My beautiful girl, I’m so sorry you felt you still needed to play out this story. You are safe. You are more than enough. I offer this story up to the divine — please take it from me.”

You can use mine or write your own love note. Whatever words you feel you or your inner child need to hear.

Step 3 — Offer it up

Visualise holding that story in your hands and giving it to the universe. Watch it dissolve in white light.

Step 4 — Redirect

Check your behaviour. Align it with the abundant version of yourself. And Name three things you’re genuinely grateful for right now.

I did it sitting in the cafe I’m in, like right now in this very moment. I appreciated the yummy coffee I was sipping on, the beautiful little life I’ve created for myself here in Bali, and my beautiful self awareness.

I felt real gratitude in my body and that’s it. DONE.

The day I thought was a write-off before 9am? Already shifted into complete abundance by the time I closed this journal.

Not because anything changed out there. Because I caught the story, rewrote the script before it wrote the rest of my day for me.