4 Surefire Ways to Take Your Morning from Bad to Worse

You didn't get much sleep, the baby was up half the night. You woke to two small children screaming your name, and their demands don't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Get them milk! Pack your husband's lunch! Everyone is starving and needs breakfast now! Eek. It's enough to stress out even a non-sleep deprived soul.

If your morning is off to a rough start, here are 4 guaranteed ways to make it worse.

Mentally check out. Life is too hard, and you feel the need to escape. You are so tired that you choose the path of least resistance- scrolling through your social media feeds, picking up that unputdownable novel, etc.

The problem is that although it may feel good in the moment to escape your reality, it will still be there when you put your phone down, shut the laptop, or turn the last page. Except maybe worse, because your little people are likely to feel ignored, and were probably making big messes while you neglected them.

Give full vent to your exasperation. Angry that your two year old won't stop whining? Go ahead and yell back at him. Frustrated that everyone needs you all at once? Snap at your husband or whichever kid is closest. Complain via text to a friend, then vent a little more on Facebook. Don't you feel better?

Oops, no, wait- chances are you feel worse. And in the process you've hurt and alienated the people you love most.

Hang onto unmet expectations. Last night you had planned for today so well. But it's ten o'clock and you haven't cleaned your kitchen, paid the bills, and made the 5 phone calls you had planned to make by this time. You'll never catch up now!

If you hang onto that frustration, I guarantee it will not help your day look up or your to do list to get tackled.

Stop trying. Your schedule hasn't lined up as planned, the house is a wreck, and the kids are in a mood... so why even try? Give up, give in. Sit on the sofa in your pajamas and feel sorry for yourself. Throw your kids in front of the t.v. and keep wasting time on Facebook. From the way your day began, you never stood a chance of being productive or joyful to begin with.

I've had my fair share of mornings like this, and want to ask how I know these four choices will make things worse? Take a wild guess- I've been guilty of all of them myself, often.

The good news is, no matter what time it is- whether your rough day is only just beginning, or whether it's noon and you've been making bad decisions for half the day that is spent- you can hit the reset button. It's never too late to start fresh.

Come back on Monday for 6 strategies guaranteed to get you out of that rough morning funk.