It’s a given: life is hard. It often knocks the wind out of us, yet we somehow manage to keep moving forward. However, some situations are so difficult that our world comes crashing down. Stock phrases like ‘life isn’t fair’ and’ this too shall pass’ fail to comfort us.
If you find yourself feeling hopeless, and merely getting out of bed becomes a challenge, you’re going to need some coping mechanism.
Turn to these tips to deal with difficult times and emerge stronger:
1. Take Life One Day at a Time
When we feel stuck, we tend to think obsessively about whether we will be better off in the future. Doing so only results in more stress and despair.
Instead of worrying about tomorrow, focus on the present instead. At the end of every single day, pat yourself on the back for getting through it. It might not seem like it now, but it really is an accomplishment.
2. Use NLP to Change the Narrative
The way we see our life events have a huge impact on our mental well-being.
While it is hard to be positive or even realistic during tough times, we luckily have Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to turn to. It helps us understand and reprogram our thought processes so that we can truly be in control of ourselves.
You know how, when you feel hopeless, you’re filled with a lot of negative thoughts that you don’t know what to do with? NLP will help you turn that into something positive. Having personally read ‘How to Take Charge of Your Life: The User’s Guide to NLP’ by one of the founders of NLP, I can vouch for how life-changing it can be. You can purchase the Kindle version or a paperback copy of it on Amazon India.
Channel all that pent-up energy into something useful: it could be volunteering, getting fitter, joining a book club, anything. The trick is to let your mind focus on something constructive instead of being stuck in a vortex of despair.
3. Confide in Your Support System
Why suffer in silence when you can share your burden? Let your tribe know what you are going through so that they can help you feel better.
Sharing your problems and allowing others to help you is an emotionally healthy thing to do. Even though you can overcome your troubles by yourself, talking to someone will make the process quicker. It might also help you gain some perspective on how to handle your problems.
Either way, you will feel better knowing that you are not alone.
4. Seek Therapy
Sometimes, we cannot deal with our mental health issues by ourselves, and that’s when we should seek professional help.
Despite increased mental health awareness, society still considers it taboo, including a lot of millennials. We tend to see it as something shameful — a sign of weakness.
However, taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical well-being.
Trusting a professional to help you is a wise move because counselors and therapists interact with us without judgment. And today, we even have online services for busy individuals.
Mumbai teacher Simran Arora* (29) says, “I recently ended a long-term relationship. Owing to my ex’s emotional abuse, I was diagnosed with severe PTSD. I quit my job and began seeing an online psychotherapist. I am doing much better now. I have gone from ‘severely suicidal and unemployable’ to ‘mostly manageable bouts of depression and a new job’.” (*name changed on request)
5. Take Care of Yourself
When life unravels, we tend to blame ourselves. Fight the urge to do that, because now is when you should be self-compassionate.
Make time to do little things that make you feel better. Make good choices, like substituting social media usage with fitness. If nothing, at least ensure you get ample food and sleep.
As tempting as it is, do not resort to binge drinking and drugs — it is only going to make your existence bleaker.
Although we cannot avoid pain and suffering, we can keep moving forward. Resilience is one thing no one can take from you. And remember: it does get better with time.
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How true! These are the things we ought to remember when in a difficult situation, or when in doubt about our own strength. For me, living in the moment and confiding in my support system helps a lot.