Have you ever had one of those days? Or weeks? Or Longer? Sometimes between the emotional and financial struggles of life, staying positive can be a real challenge. What’s bothering you? Helping to narrow down the cause of the struggle can be useful to help you deal with the issue. Job loss, relationship struggles, and health issues can either build up slowly or come on suddenly and leave us hurting inside. Don't Feel Like Your Struggle Is Checkmate! Maybe you just don’t make enough money and you’re struggling financially. A loved one gets sick and you’re worried about them. Some tragic event impacts you and your family. And you’re depressed or anxious because of the struggle. Whether your struggle is real or perceived, you have to deal with the issue, and you have to do your best to keep your head up high. Here’s 9 Tips to Help You Get Through the Struggle 1. Reframe and Don’t Wallow in Your Struggle So the struggle is real. We’ve all been there in one way or another. Do you want to get through it without losing your mind? Reframe the situation. You can either take the issue and make it a threat, or you can make it a challenge. Nurses often ask patients about their “discomfort” instead of their “pain,” which is a great point made at Verywell Mind. It won’t make the cause of your struggle go away, but changing how you look at it can definitely help you focus on a solution. You'll get out, just give it time 2. Take Perspective of the Situation How bad is the situation? Sometimes we blow the severity out of perspective. I’m guilty of this. The boat gets a small leak and I’m preparing for it to sink. What’s the real severity? How big of an issue are you dealing with? One approach is to look at the time it will last. Is this a 5-minute problem? Or maybe a 5-day problem? Or even a 5-year problem? Don’t get worked up over the small stuff. Mix those little struggles in with any significant issues and you’ll quickly feel overwhelmed. If you let the small issues go, you’ll find it much easier to focus on resolving those real issues without feeling bogged down by the overwhelming stress of a bunch of little issues. 3. Make Changes You Can Control Let’s face it. Something went wrong, and you’re overwhelmed. You can’t always fix it. Unfortunately it’s just not possible. But can you control certain things? Absolutely! For a financial issue, maybe you don’t have the money to completely fix it. You can make calls, reach out for help, and create a strategy to avoid the situation in the future. Maybe someone can even help. What you can’t do is sit idly by and do nothing. Find an area where you can do something, and occupy your time working on that. Sometimes you’ll even get lucky, and those small steps you could take open more steps that help you get through struggle quicker. 4. Meditate Meditation is a great method to break away from the ongoing stress and relax your mind and body. This doesn’t have to be some big ornate event in a certain posture for long periods of time. It can be simply taking a few minutes with some relaxing music and sitting still while focusing on your breathing. If you’ve never done a meditation, take a look at Insight Timer. It’s free (they offer a paid subscription but it’s not necessary), and it has both music and guided meditations on tons of topics and timeframes from 1 minute to over an hour. If you worship God, the Universe, a Higher Power, or the elm tree in your backyard, prayer is a great option. Taking the time to focus on your relationship with whoever you serve can help you find peace in the moment. 5. Be Thankful Make a gratitude list. Yes, things don’t always seem to go your way, but keep a nightly journal and record at least 10 things you are thankful for. These don’t have to be major events. Being grateful for your health, your sight, your spouse and children, and even your job (it may not be perfect but not everybody has one) are fair game. There’s always something you can be thankful for. Studies show that being grateful improves the quality of your life. Check out the full article on gratitude here. 6. Focus on the Positive You have a real issue, and it’s getting you down. Yes, it’s going to be a struggle. But focus on areas that are going well. Take note of what’s actually going well and jot the positives down on paper. For every one area where you’re struggling, you can easily find 10 positives. The more you focus on what is going well, the less you’ll dwell on what isn’t. 7. Get In Touch With Nature Take a walk and clear your head. Step away from the situation for a bit. You can do a walking meditation, take the dogs for a walk, or just enjoy a stroll outdoors. Walking reduces stress, which is just what you need. And walking boosts endorphins that boost your overall mood. You’ll find that you feel more creative when you walk, so you might just find a way to better handle your struggle. 8. Lend a Helping Hand This might be the best way you can help work through your struggle. Do you have a friend who needs some help? Is there a shut-in who could use a hand? When you help someone else, it not only boosts your mood, but seeing someone else’s struggles puts your issue in perspective. There are people who have it much worse than you do. And you might be the deciding factor in how well someone else’s day goes. 9. Open Up Do you have someone you are close to? It can be a spouse or family member, a friend, spiritual leader, or mentor in your life. If you have a therapist, they have likely been trained to handle situations similar to yours. Often they can help you find a path or solution that you haven’t considered. Worst case, it simply feels good to get the problems out in the open with someone willing to listen. Don’t assume nobody cares or wants to listen to you. Speak up and you’ll find that you aren’t alone in facing your struggle. Even if your first solution doesn’t work, don’t give up. It may work the second time. Or you might find a path to an even better solution. Most struggles don’t last, but some take longer to resolve than others. Just don’t throw in the towel. Realistically, it’s not the first time you’ve struggled. And you conquered struggles in the past, so there’s no reason to believe this will be any different.
