How Helping Others Can Redeem Your ‘Alexander’ Kind of Day

You can escape an Alexander day and feel better at the same time.

Judith Viorst wrote insightful children’s books that I loved to read to my kids. The book is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Alexander is a boy whose whole day goes wrong. He wakes up late but has gum in his hair. He misses out on cereal box prizes and falls by tripping over a skateboard (left by him).

People criticize him at school, and a friend pushes him into a mud puddle.

His mother scolds him. His brother teased him. The tennis shoes he wants do not come in the right color.

In short, Alexander’s day spirals downward into glum frustration.

Do you see Alexander in your mirror? Your alarm doesn’t go off, making you late. Your car battery won’t turn over the engine, and you are stuck. Once you get to work, you are behind. Interruption after interruption arises.

Everything bothers you. The traffic, that scratch fog horn laugh of “that guy,” and the line at McDonald’s.

The day descends into Dante’s Inferno with every moment.

But you don’t have to continue until you arrive in a glum mood. Instead, you can change your day.

The overlooked answer seems so simple.

But when life beats you down, lift someone else.

When stressed, depressed, dumped on, and ignored, do something nice for someone else.

On days when the internet at church went down, computer problems bred like rabbits, and a fender bender closed all lanes of traffic, I finally gave up.

I visited someone who needed it. I went to see a shut-in or walked into a hospital room.

For the next several minutes, life stopped being about me, and my focus shifted to the needs of another.

At the end of the visit, as I got up to leave, people would comment, “Thank you for coming. You have made my day.”

I should have said, “Thanks for letting me come. You made my day.”

Life is a boomerang, that curved Aboriginal hunting weapon designed to return to you. When you give to another, the gift returns to you with dividends.

Don’t stew in your juices. Do something about it. Write a note. Call a friend. Visit a hospital. Take cookies to a shut-in.

Helping another is the best antidote to an Alexander day because you and another get lifted.