It must be the best book title of all time.

The title is “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst.

It’s a children’s book, of course, about a boy named Alexander who has a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” Alexander woke up with gum in his hair and knew that it was going to be a bad day. The day grew worse and really didn’t get any better. Alexander’s best friends deserted him. His mom forgot to put dessert in his lunch box. To make matters worse, he had lima beans for supper and there was kissing on TV. At the end of almost each page, Alexander declares that it was a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

At the end of the book as Alexander is going to bed, his mother tells him that “some days are like that.” It’s true isn’t it? Some days are simply that way. It seems that everything goes wrong and that Murphy was an optimist!

What do you do when it’s a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?”

I suggest trying four ideas:

First, do what Alexander’s mother does–acknowledge that some days are just that way. There’s not much you can do when you bite your tongue or when you have a cavity. You simply have to acknowledge it and make the best of the day.

Second, don’t let one bad day make two bad days. Leave the day behind and make the most of the day that you have. Football teams that have a bad day know not to let the same team defeat them twice. They know that if you dwell in the past it will defeat your future as well. You simply have to leave the past in the past and make the most of the present. You can’t turn back the clock.

Third, vow to give someone a “wonderful, exciting, joyful, fabulous day.” As you attempt to give someone else a good day, your day will brighten up as well. It always works that way.

Fourth, give your day to God and vow to “rejoice and be glad in it,” even a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

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