boyfriend says I need to learn to accept the hard truth.

My boyfriend and I have been having a few disagreements this week.  I had such bad mood swings yesterday because my family and I lost someone close to us and he was obviously the first person I went to. Today, I visited him at work just for a bit but he got really annoyed with my staying there for so long and when he told me to not hover, I continued to hover anyway. I'm really bad at accepting really hard truths that I don't want to hear (ie.  stop hovering over me for my sake because it is really awkward for everyone around us).  One of my New Years goals this year was to stay positive and get rid of the negativity. 
Long story short, what is the best approach for me to improve my relationship with my boyfriend?  How should I go about with staying positive through the hard times, as well as trying to accept any sort of truths that he tells me?  Any positive feedback would be much appreciated :)