On some mornings everything goes right.
You wake up with a smile on your face probably with the love of your life lying next to you. Drink coffee, work out, shower and go about your day. No surprises. No life-threatening situation to attend to. Somebody even sends you money just for the sake of it. Beautiful day.
But some other days are just the direct opposite.
Nothing goes right from the start and you seem to move from one frustrating situation to another. You feel like you’re putting out fires all day.
How “good morning” really makes us feel
On those bad days, you question the idea of “good morning” as a greeting.
At that moment, it sounds like an assumption that people wake up on the right side of the bed every day. And if you happen to be having a bad day, hearing the greeting directed at you feels like mockery. As though the other person can clearly see that you’re having a rough day and decides to rub it in.
According to an unconfirmed source on Quora, the use of the term “good morning” is of British origin. In London, it hardly used to be sunny in the morning. Mostly it used to be cloudy and wet. So the one occasional day when it was sunny and warm, people would be happy and they would wish each other, “Good morning”.
If that were true, it means the term was originally used to describe a rare weather condition. These days, its use has been extended to just about any day, regardless of whether it was sunny, wet or freezing cold. So much for civilization!
A sprinkle of encouragement
Let’s be real here, people face a lot every day.
We’re always on the move, rushing off to meetings, taking kids to school, and going to work. On top of that, there are so many things to worry about like bills to pay, assignments to submit, and so on.
The world out there can be cruel and unreasonable and people need their spirits to be lifted. Sometimes, those milliseconds of cheerfulness we offer each time we say “good morning” could go a long way. It could be the sprinkle of encouragement someone needs to go through the day. You just might be saving a life.
In fact, professing those positive words when your reality is the direct opposite might be the mood booster you so desperately need on bad days.
You never know.
So, here’s the bottom line.
There will be days when you’ll feel like asking “what is good about the morning?”. Remember to look for something positive in every day, even if you have to look harder.
