Have you ever had a tough day when everything seems to go wrong? It can feel overwhelming, like a dark cloud hanging over you. Little annoyances, like spilling coffee or missing the bus, combined with bigger issues like work stress, can lead to frustration and despair. It’s easy to forget the good moments, but it’s important to remember that even in chaos, there is hope for better days ahead. Here’s how I’ve been coping, or at least trying to cope with stress.
A Stressful Monday Morning
Monday morning started with a sharp, annoying pain in my back. You know, the kind that happens when you know you slept funny, so your body punishes you the next day. My back felt all twisted like a pretzel, and I found myself hobbling down the stairs like an old lady with a bad back. It’s crazy how much we take a good spine for granted until it decides to quit on us. Most of the day was spent with excruciating back pain. Luckily, I felt much better by Tuesday evening.
Part of my daily survival ritual involves spending some time in nature, by walking to the nearest park or Tim Hortons down the street. I don’t buy steeped tea every day, but I still try to make it a habit to go outside. Despite my back pain, I desperately need that steaming cup of caffeine to clear the chaotic mental chatter in my head.
(っ◔__◔)っ ♥ P.S. Let’s ignore the fact that I recently ranted about the ridiculous inflation and the annoyances I have with Tim’s. Let’s just ignore all of that because karma got me good. 🙄
I was already halfway there when my husband broke the news to me. He mentioned that my go-to spot was closed, but I didn’t want to believe it. I pulled up the info online, and my heart sank: “Closed until February 26, 2026.”
Who even knows if they will actually reopen? There are rumors going around that their contract with 7-Eleven ended, and this uncertainty makes it feel so much worse. Honestly, this feels like a cruel joke from the universe, especially since I just wrote a blog post called Price Shock: Enough is Enough. It’s like the universe read my blog post and said,
“Oh, you think things are tough? Let’s take away the one thing that brought you joy. Sucks to be you.” 💔
Here in Calgary, I live in the type of climate that makes you regret living in Canada. Standing in that parking lot, shivering, annoyed, and caffeine-deprived, I felt like the universe was sending me a very loud message to go back to bed and stay there, wrapped in my warm blankets like a caterpillar in a cocoon, far removed from the harshness of the cold. The biting wind seemed to mock my every attempt to stay warm as I hugged my arms tightly to my chest, wishing for just a little warmth to seep back into my already chilled bones. At this point, I was half-expecting a penguin to waddle past me and offer some pity, sympathy, or nod of acceptance. 🐧
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A Stressful Monday Afternoon
I could not catch a break on Monday. The “bad” became way “worse” the moment I opened my laptop. As many of you know, I poured my heart into my sticker designs. It was a creative outlet that kept me grounded, even when life felt heavy. My most popular rainbow unicorn “caticorn” cat design was staring back at me on a marketplace that felt oh so familiar, but from a seller I had never seen before.
It was a 3rd party seller based in China. They hadn’t just “borrowed” the idea; they had ripped the high-res file, turned it into a sticker, and sold it for a fraction of the price. Their product photos were remotely similar, with water droplets as their “watermark” (Oh, the audacity!) but still, it was MY digital art design! And I am livid! (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!
ɪ ʀᴇɢʀᴇᴛ ꜱʜᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴛᴇᴍᴜ. ɴᴏᴛ ᴀʟʟ ꜱᴇʟʟᴇʀꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇ ᴛʀᴜꜱᴛᴇᴅ. ɪ’ᴍ ᴜᴘꜱᴇᴛ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴄᴏᴘɪᴇᴅ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ᴍʏ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ’ᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀɴʏ ꜱᴀʟᴇꜱ ɪɴ ᴀ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛɪᴍᴇ.
The most frustrating part? Despite Redbubble offering protection by allowing us to add a watermark, it wasn’t enough to stop the Temu thief from copying the design anyway. The irony is that I often shop on sites like Temu, and you can read my recent blog post here. This feels like the universe’s big “FU” to me for even trying to compete with this conglomerate monster.
Link to MY Shop: 🌸@sereneluna 🌸
Do You Believe in Karma?
I believe in karma—the mirror reflection of what you project into the universe often has a way of creeping into your life and throwing that energy right back at you when you least expect it, including the stuff that you don’t want. Not only that, but you can’t steal someone else’s ethereal energy and creativity, no matter how hard you try to copy someone else, because they’ll always be a few steps ahead of you in the game.
The universe has a way of balancing this energy, including the energy we don’t actually want, thus reminding us that authenticity and hard work are the true pathways to lasting success. So, even though the situation feels devastating right now, I hold onto the belief that integrity will prevail in the long run, revealing the true character of these thieves and shady people who try to take shortcuts at the expense of others.
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Searching for Mental Clarity & Meaning
When the mental fog gets this thick and the physical pain becomes so loud that you can’t ignore it, I find myself craving a total “hard reset” for my brain. These days, I often feel the need to disengage from the external world and instead, turn inward on myself. I did a “hard reset” just last week, but it doesn’t seem to have been enough to carry me through this latest avalanche of deregulation, so I think I need to go back to that magical place again. I’m feeling tempted to revisit that deep, earthy, ethereal experience—the kind that lets the brain’s default mode network take a backseat so I can view life from a new, fresh perspective through a world of dreamlike wonder.
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(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS
Often, it’s easier to be hard on ourselves, so we end up attracting even more unwanted things into our lives, whether we’re conscious of it or not. But if I’ve learned anything from blogging, it’s that we have to find a way to take back our own narrative. We have to be the ones to decide when the bad day, week, month, etc., stops being bad. I’m ready for the light to shine again. I’m ready to start showing up as the best version of myself, whatever that newer, weirder version of me happens to be. 🌿
♡ What about you? Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go right? How do you handle it? Feel free to join the conversation below ↓ and I’ll do my best to reply to your comments within the next 24 hours.
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Sorry to read about your tough time Hilary. TBH it doesn’t happen to me since I retired but even then I used to focus on the positive. Every cloud really does have a silver lining.
Hi Sheree! You’re lucky that you don’t experience days/weeks that turn into an avalanche of more “bad” days/weeks. My line of work is nursing and I work some weekends (casual nurse) at a hospital as a float.
Every day, I do my best to practice gratitude but often find myself waking up grumpy, cold, and over-tired. Truly hoping things get better. I think a large part of this poor mood is d/t seasonal affective disorder (SAD). I went to bed freezing last night and woke up to -21°C and snow this morning! ❄️☃️
I think at this point, I’m practically in survival-mode. I’ll remember your words of wisdom and focus on the positive to attract more of the “good” things. Maybe I still have time to turn this week around. Thanks for reading and commenting! 🙂
Hilary, I was an accountant in a former life. I could never have worked as a nurse, I turn green at the mere thought of blood. However, I do understand that you’re probably overworked and underappreciated.
Very overworked and tired tbh. Sadly, it’s gotten much worse in Canada after the Covid pandemic. Our “new baseline” is 6 patients: 1 nurse, which is too much if I’m being honest. I’m grateful that I can work casually, so that allows me time to recover from these strenuous shifts, but in the future when my kids are older I do plan on working more.
The digital art hobby was mainly because curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to get better at improving pixel resolution and editing. Over time, Redbubble got greedy so it stopped being fun. Luckily, blogging hasn’t stopped being fun yet, which I’m super grateful for. ☺️💕
I’m sorry it’s been such a rough week. I’ve certainty had the same and I agree that when we focus on the negative, it somehow seems to invite more of the same; so, the best course of action is to look for the good.
Cheers to taking back the narrative and letting your light shine bright once more! 🕯️✨
For the back pain (stemming from muscle tension), I’d like to share a few low-cost OTC ideas that have helped me, if you don’t mind: hydrocollator moist heat pack, Theraworx roll-on magnesium, and myofascial release self treatment.
Thanks so much for the good vibes. I really needed that reminder to flip the script and stop letting the “bad” days win!
I seriously appreciate the back pain tips. I actually tried a magnesium cream before, but I hated that weird metallic/sticky texture it left behind. I do occasionally drink a NaturalCalm Magnesium Citrate powder mixed with water, though I’m not super consistent with it. The Theraworx roll-on sounds like a much better topical option, and heat packs are always a good idea, although my husband would disagree with me. I will look into these options. 🙂
My entire week has been like that. First my washing machine and dryer both stopped working at the same time. When we got it fixed, a pipe started to leak causing water to come from under the washing machine. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the entire washroom area got flooded out. That night I cracked a beer and went to bed after.
Hope you feel better soon. 💕 Some gorgeous art in this post. Loving it.
Thank you! They’re screenshots from a game I play online. The graphics are gorgeous and I absolutely love the purple mushroom image. The world itself was gorgeous and trippy AF. It’s great. I don’t love the current nation we got this year, but the game itself is still my favorite.
Unless you’re talking about the digital art I made haha I assumed you meant the game.
That’s so awful, I’m so sorry. Stealing someones artistic work is one of the worst parts of putting stuff online. We can never fully protect it. But totally believe in karma too, the universe evens things out.
It’s comforting that you can relate to this. Pooja. I bet you have to deal with stuff like this all the time too! ☹️ Over the years, ppl have copied me for whatever reason and I’m at the point where I don’t find it flattering that someone wants to be like me. I actually don’t want them as my followers if they’re gonna sink so low and copy every damn thing.
I’ve had my domain name stolen (still can’t get .com or .ca) so I adapted and got .net. My inspiration was Mark Manson’s website, which is also .net and he’s successful. So I went with that. Then my IG username was stolen, and wasn’t used. Someone took because they were probably seeking revenge or something. For whatever reason, they didn’t want me using it. So I adapted with @serene_hilz 😐 Then I got bored with IG and haven’t posted since.
I guess I’m venting at this point because it’s SO frustrating putting myself on the internet, but l know in order to reach more people, I kind of have to do it. It’s like a double edged sword ⚔️🙇♀️
I really do understand, a lot of my content gets stolen and ideas too which I can’t do anything about because WP only takes things down if they’re exactly the same. Some people will change the phrasing slightly but you know it’s the same. It’s definitely annoying but one of the cons of sharing content online 😭
Ugh, I totally get it. Honestly, posting online and putting yourself out there seriously sucks sometimes! It’s so discouraging when you pour your heart into your work only to see it copied and even worse that WP doesn’t seem to care that there are blogger thieves copy/pasting your content and calling it their own. 😓
Yeah, I think that’s the worst part of the internet. So much stuff gets stolen constantly and there’s not much we can do about it. Even copyrighted stuff gets stolen all the time 😞
Sometimes, I just want to give up and go completely offline! 😖 However, gatekeeping knowledge that could help people feels pointless. Honestly, I think our purpose here is to create and share our creations (writing, art etc.) with the world. The internet makes sharing easy, but it also brings out all the copycats that make life….oh so unpleasant.
Yeah, I agree. I think creativity is so important for our mental wellbeing. The internet has made sharing easy but like you said copycats are everywhere. To be fair though, copycats were always around the internet just made it easier.
So glad you go out everyday, I do that too. Even 10 minutes outside is good for our mental wellness. it is so soul destroying when our artistic expression is stolen but what goes round will come round to them. Please let it go, your best is yet to come! Feel better soon.
Thank you for the thoughtful words. I’m taking your advice to heart and trying my best to still get out every day. It’s tough in the dead of winter, but you’re so right that even 10 minutes helps. I really appreciate the encouragement to let go and move forward. 🙂
Sorry your artistry was stolen.
Sometimes when I have a bad day, I take a nap and start over. Sometimes I just muddle through, but have found seeking God works best
Thanks for the support. Muddling through is definitely how some days go, but I agree that faith makes the load much lighter. I’ve found that seeking God really helps with grounding as well. 🙏💕
Sorry for this stressful time and I hope that writing it out could at least provide some relief!
That is sickening to hear about your art being stolen — seems like something that happens way too frequently. I’ve had stuff stolen on Pinterest. I made some Canva artwork for a blog post and uploaded the images to Pinterest with links to my blog. Later, found other Pinterest users saving the image and posting it without any credit or link back to my blog.
Although, in your case it’s much worse because they are profiting from it! Also, the images I made were nothing too special, but your sticker artwork truly shows a lot of skill and talent. I do believe in karma but you did not deserve to have your art stolen — those who stole your work will get their bad karma.
Hi Laura! I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me. I agree that writing it out and turning my frustrations into a blog post was not only therapeutic but also a good use of time, so there’s that! ✍️✨
Having your support makes everything feel a lot less lonely. I’ve always been so grateful for how you’ve supported my art hobby and blog, and your kind words about my work mean the world right now. I’m so sorry you dealt with that Pinterest mess and copycats too because it is honestly so frustrating! 😖
Thank you for the reminder about karma; I’m definitely holding onto that hope. It shows up in mysterious ways, and I’ve even seen those types of people suddenly delete their social media and blogs in the past. 💅🌿
I sincerely hope things get better. As a fellow mental fog sufferer, I can relate. I do also want to take the time to thank you for channeling your pain and suffering into such a beautiful post.
I’m glad I could channel some of that experience into something meaningful—knowing it resonated with you makes sharing it all the more worth it. Sending good vibes your way, too! ✨
Hang on tight, Hilary. 🙏🏻