The Spinning Top Theory of Being (Mostly) Okay

Some days I feel like a beautifully balanced spinning top. You know the kind: humming along, centred, confident, maybe even giving off the faint energy of someone who finally - finally - has their life together. Emails answered. Boundaries intact. Coffee consumed while still hot. A general sense that I’m gliding through the day like a tiny whizzing metaphor of capability.

And then - wobble.

Not even a dramatic wobble. No flaming-torch-juggling-on-a-unicycle catastrophe required. Sometimes it’s a single comment, or a tech glitch, or discovering that the “quick task” I optimistically scheduled has multiplied like damp gremlins. One nudge and suddenly the spinning top of composure starts listing dangerously to the left. The hum falters. The elegant pirouette becomes the clumsy thrash of “Oh no. Not today.”

And that’s the thing about being human: we can feel steady for ages… until we don’t. We can go weeks without a wobble and then have three before lunch. Our sense of balance is real, but it’s also fragile. It remains subject to mood, sleep, hormones, inboxes, expectations, and the sudden appearance of someone asking, “Have you got a minute?”

That is why I created The Bad Day Playbook.

Not because I think life should be one long, graceful spin. Not because I believe we can eliminate wobbling entirely. But because I know - deeply, personally - that having a few simple, practical plays ready means the wobble doesn’t have to turn into a topple. That moment of “Here we go again” doesn’t have to become “Everything is terrible, pass the doona.”

The Playbook is essentially a stabilising hand: the thing you do when the spin shakes, the steadying action that helps you regain momentum, or at least land more gently when the day has other plans.

Some days you’ll spin beautifully. Other days, you’ll wobble so dramatically you’ll consider rebranding your life as Performance Art: Chaos Edition. But you are not broken. You are not failing. You are just human, in motion.

And whether you’re whizzing, wobbling, or lying dramatically on your side, refusing to get up - there’s a play for that. Some small action that can help you regain control. And it can be as simple as remembering to take a breath.

Pause for a moment. What tiny nudge would help you find your balance again?