It doesn’t matter who you are, many times in your life you will experience some pretty big challenges, some of which will push you to your limits and even well beyond where you thought your limits were!
We all know these times, if you have a pulse, then challenges are part of life. But it is how you look at these challenges and deal with them that will determine how detrimental or transformational they will be to your life.
So here are 4 quick tips to help you deal with challenging times:
#1 ~ Change Your Perspective
Challenges are tough to deal with, but in nearly all cases there are amazing gifts and lessons that can come out of challenging times – even if you don’t see them till you are out the other side. So change your perspective and start asking good quality questions to help you find the gifts in the situation sooner. Questions like “what can I learn from this?” or “What is the gift here?” or “What lesson do I need to hear right now?” or “How can I improve this situation fast?” Asking questions of yourself is an extremely powerful tool that can help you to not only change your perspective of the situation, but to also help you get out of the challenge faster.
#2 ~ Take Responsibility and Focus on a solution
Blaming others is going to get you nowhere and take the power and control away from you. I’ve been in many situations in my own life where crap has happened to me because of the actions of other people, but staying in victim mode and blaming other people or circumstances for the mess my life is in does not help me to get out of it. If you stay in victim mode, you have no power to solve the situation or circumstances. So take responsibility for your part in the situation, and take back your own personal power to move the situation forward. The truth is that there is always something that we can do to improve a situation and so focus on the solution and the actions that you can take to fix it. You have the power to make positive changes in your life.
#3 ~ Take Action
Instead of sitting around wallowing in your misery about what is happening to you, work out what small action you can take to make the situation better – even if it is just going to improve it a tiny bit. Every small action in the right direction will add up quickly to help sort out the situation. Often we as humans can get caught up in the weight of a situation and it can stop us from taking action. Many of us just want to roll up in a ball and hide from the world when challenges arises, but this isn’t going to fix anything. If you are having a challenging time at the moment, what real actions have you taken to solve the problem? Or are you just expecting it to sort itself out? Make sure you are taking action daily to work towards a solution for your challenge. Even small actions in the right direction can add up over time to make a big difference.
#4 ~ Be Grateful
Even when the biggest challenges are happening to you in your life, there is still lots around you to be grateful for… You live in an amazing country, you have a roof over your head, you have friends that love you, you have food to eat every day. In my darkest times, it is gratitude that pulled me out of it. Even when my 15-month-old daughter was in intensive care and hanging on to life by the smallest thread, I still had so much to be grateful for… the amazing team of doctors and nurses that were helping her, my amazing husband that was by my side, my loving family that were supporting me through the toughest time of my life, my amazing son who was strong and healthy and alive… the list went on, and in that gratitude it helped me to get through that dark time in my life, as well as many other dark times that I have experienced. Gratitude is such a powerful force in life, and it lifts your spirits and brings hope to the situation, so embrace an attitude of gratitude and let the fear and worry around the challenges that you are experiencing to melt away.
