By Sami Shields of ContemporaryVA
How often have you told yourself, “I just can’t cope” or “I just don’t have the strength to deal with this” or similar versions of a self-doubting declaration? It’s so natural to succumb to the stress and frustrations of life that you can start believing you’re incapable of passing over life’s challenging hurdles. However, it’s important to give yourself the benefit of the doubt! It’s crucial to achieving peace of mind for you to have the self-confidence that says, “I can deal with it. I just need to lean on my coping skills.” If you’re not sure whether you have those skills or where to find them, these techniques will help you either develop them or pull them out of hiding:
- Weigh the possible outcomes. Stop and consider what the possible outcomes of a rough situation are. What’s the worst that could happen? How have you handled the worst in the past?
- Obviously, you made it through to see another day, so is this new situation really as bad as you’re envisioning?
- Sure, the tension and discomfort that come with a tough situation are enough to drive you up the wall. But if you really look at the possible outcomes, you’ll likely find that your apprehension is playing more of a number on you that the outcome ever could!
- When you determine that the outcome is more manageable that you thought, allow yourself time to relax before tackling the challenge. You can do this!
- Maintain spirituality. Maintaining a connection to your spiritual side is a great way to help you achieve peace of mind and cope with a rough patch in your life. Whether your spirituality is tied in with religion or self-help, you’ll likely be able to achieve inner peace and subsequently weigh situations with the utmost clarity.
- If you’re so inclined, pray constantly for strength to deal with tough situations and the peace to accept the outcome.
- Practice meditation. It will help reduce the stress, give you increased mental clarity about your challenges, and help bring you close to your spiritual side.
- Maintain a positive outlook. Success in life is based less on the situations you face and more on how you deal with them. Your outlook can go a long way in helping you to deal effectively with challenges. In fact, a positive attitude can even reduce your insurmountable hurdle to a minor distraction!
- Believe in self-actualization. Who are you? Take a few moments to really be honest with yourself. What makes you tick? What gives you a true sense of achievement? If you’re able to accurately define yourself, then you can achieve anything you honestly think you’re capable of.
- Believe that you’re made with the skills needed to get through trials.
It’s easier than you think to cope with unfavorable situations. You have so much untapped potential and promise, and it’s time to rely on it now for help in your time of need. As you start to practice these coping techniques, you’ll realize that you’re innately more powerful than you ever acknowledged before. After a while, you’ll discover that absolutely nothing is dire enough to force you to break.
What are you currently struggling with? Let us know in the comments below or send a message here.
