Strategies for Facing Your Obstacles
If you’re facing some life challenges, it can be hard to remember that it’s normal to have obstacles crop up occasionally. Everyone has setbacks, disappointments, and tough times.
But going through a rough patch doesn’t have to spoil your life.
The key to thriving in the face of adversity is how you respond to the obstacles in your path.
Here are four strategies to help you ride through and come out on top.
- Decide to face the obstacle.
If you’re having a tough time, it can be easy to feel helpless, even if you’re a victim. But it’s up to you to rise to the challenge and decide that you won’t be overwhelmed. Taking control and embracing your challenge is the first step in overcoming it. Look your obstacle square in the face and resolve to meet it.
- Be okay with discomfort.
The proof that you’re embracing your obstacle is acknowledging that it doesn’t feel good. It can feel uncomfortable, heavy, even painful. Many life experiences hurt at the time but end up being for your best and highest good. From marathon training to going to the dentist to public speaking, even facing your debtors, you feel so much better once you’ve faced the worst. Remember it won’t last forever. Don’t shrink from the bad feelings. You can ride them out!
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- Make sure you have a support team.
You don’t have to face your obstacles alone. It can make all the difference to have people around you who are supportive, who’ll stick by you and cheer you on when you want to give up.
If you have a cheer squad, you’ll find that extra level of energy to help get you through. And you’ll be there for your friends and colleagues when they’re facing their challenges. Once you’re part of a team who have each other’s backs, none of you will have to face life’s ups and downs alone. You’ll fight together and celebrate success together.
- Be grateful for your obstacles
Feeling gratitude for the challenges in life might sound counter-intuitive. But think about it. Accepting the challenge, resolving to meet it head-on, and overcoming it makes you a better, stronger person. Think of how good it feels to deal with and solve a problem. To face fear and overcome it.
Without obstacles in your life, you would not grow and learn and become a better person. Obstacles are a natural, normal part of living an authentic life
More Top Tips
It’s not what happens in life that defines you but how you deal with your situations. You have heard by now the phrase when life gives you lemons, turn them into lemonade. This is true today as it was whenever the first person coined the phrase. Use the following tips to help you turn adversity into success.
- Believe in what you are doing.
You have heard the classic tale how Thomas Edison continued 10,000 times before getting the light bulb to the way he wanted it. It’s hard to say if that number became exaggerated over the years, but he likely tried several thousand times at least. The point is, he believed in what he was doing. When you try something that is untested, you need to take a leap of faith. Otherwise, it’s too easy to give up on your venture. - Learn from your failures.
If you ask any successful person how they got that way, they will most likely tell you it’s due to overcoming failures. They learned from those failures and tried something different. Each iteration, they learned something new from their failures. They continued until there were no failures. - Let others help you.
Sometimes, when you face adverse situations, others can help you to turn your situation around. Anyone rarely faces something unique. Others have been through what you are going through. Reach out to them. It’s better to get the help you need than to struggle with your situation needlessly. Some people avoid reaching out because they are embarrassed. Just remember, those people once went through it, too. They know what you are dealing with. - If you are facing some adverse situation, it may be due to setting too high an expectation.
You could have tried to accomplish something that is not possible or beyond your current level of skills. By adjusting your expectations, you may be able to succeed in your situation. - Don’t wait to try again.
If your adverse situation is due to procrastinating, you can probably figure out you need to stop that behavior. If you let something build because it’s uncomfortable to deal with, the situation will get worse in most cases. - Learn how to conquer your fears.
Often, adversity is due to not taking action because you are fearful. When you face your fears, you can move past the adverse situation and get on with your life. Try some daring activities like bungee jumping or skydiving. The point is to create situations that you would not normally find yourself doing. Usually, when you overcome one fear, the process helps you to overcome all of them. - Another aspect to adversity is not being honest with yourself about the situation.
People tend to hide their true feelings or deny that they are facing a situation. Try some introspection to learn what is truly going on.
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ACTIONABLE STEPS
Create a journal to record when adverse situations occur in your life. Write down what you felt at the time, how you believe you got into those situations, and eventually, what you did to resolve them.
1. Keeping a journal for this reason will serve as a guidebook for future adverse situations.
2. Take a seminar or course on how to stop procrastinating. You can find courses online or your company may offer them and will cover the cost. Procrastination is a habit that you spent years developing, so don’t expect to overcome it after one course.
You may need to take several to reinforce the concepts.
3. Find a support group for an adverse situation you may be facing. You can find these online, or you can search the bulletin boards in your community. Consider attending meetings of the support group on an ongoing basis.
