Life is full of of adversities. It is all part of our journey in life. Challenges are crucial for growth and success. Without them, we will never have a chance to improve and become better persons. Conquering them is not easy but it is possible. What is important is the will to find ways on how to overcome challenges.
Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.
Herodotus
Unfortunately, not all people bounced back. There are those who got stucked in the past. These people tried to relive the pain of the past over and over again. They are not making progress in life. They are also unhappy. You don’t want to be like them.
At the other side of the fence are the champions. They are the ones who survived the adversities that came their way. The challenges that they have encountered in life became their stepping stones for success. They conquered and were able to rise above the storm. You want to belong in this group.
Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.
Roger Crawford
Yes, it is possible to overcome adversities. It is going to be hard. It will be painful and very difficult. You must be unshakeable. You need to persevere. Don’t be discouraged by defeat or failure. That’s the only way to survive and conquer adversities in life.
Here are some tips on how to successfully overcome adversities:
1. Take Responsibility for Your Life
Be responsible for your actions. You are where you are right now because of the decisions that you have made in the past. Acknowledge what happened. Take ownership of your past behaviours. Stop blaming others. Accept the fact that there are some things that are beyond your control. Instead, ask yourself what are the things that you can control and could have done differently. Learn the lesson and move on. The sooner you will take responsibility for your own life, the sooner you can get out of that predicament.
Don’t play the victim to circumstances you created.
Unknown
2. Focus on Your Goals
What do you want to accomplish in life? Many people have a hard time overcoming adversities because they don’t know what they want in life. It is difficult to focus when you don’t know what you want. It is like driving your car without a clear destination. So before anything else, you need to first start creating your life goals.
If you are focus on your goals, you won’t get distracted easily. You will only pay attention to things that will help you achieve your goals. No matter how hard, you will search for solutions to problems.
3. Have the Proper Mindset
Your mindset affects the direction of your life. Whether you become a success or failure in tackling life’s challenges relies heavily on your mindset.
Your mindset is your mental disposition. It includes your values, thoughts and beliefs. It determines how you response to events that happen to you. If you think you can overcome it, then you will. In the same way, that if you think the problem is too big for you to handle, then it is going to be too big for you to handle. That’s why it is very important to have the proper mindset in times of crisis.
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford
4. Practice Gratitude
You need to practice gratitude especially in tough times. Gratitude helps you feel good. It diverts your focus from the negative to the positive. You begin to look at what you have rather than what you don’t have. You will feel blessed. It will become helpful especially during times of anxiety and despair.
5. Surround Yourself with Positive People
Have you heard of the saying that “you are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with”? The people you surround yourself with has an enormous power to influence your life. They directly affect your mood, mindset, motivation and decisions.
For example, you have decided to improve your wellness. You made a promise to yourself to start eating healthy foods but every time you go out with your friends, they kept on eating fast food. Compare this in a scenario wherein all your friends eat organic and fresh produce. In which case do you think will you be achieve your goals?
The same is true if you surround yourself with positive people. Positive people will support you, encourage you and compliment you while negative people will criticize you and put you down.
6. Be One With Nature
Did you know that there is a new wellness model called Ecowellness? Ecowellness pertains to psychotherapeutic activities that involves nature. You can go to the beach or the mountains, take a walk in the park or do gardening in your backyard. In other words, it is using nature to heal and reduce stress. It is allowing yourself to experience calmness and in the process cultivate deep awareness of one’s self. Before you know it, you will that moment of clarity wherein you will know what to do with the challenges ahead.