7 Tips For Facing Tough Times

Helpful advice is a valuable gift that acquires its maximum value in difficult times. Who hasn’t gone through one of those episodes where the exit is so hidden that it doesn’t seem to exist? In situations like this, it is inevitable that we end up feeding on an increasingly intrusive pessimism. At such times, good advice can make a difference.

No matter how smart and open you are, there will always be some point along the way where you won’t know where to go. Just to find a little light in these dark moments, there are 7 pieces of advice that can help you.

1. In the face of difficult times: accept them and do not create resistance

We tend to think that if things don’t go our way, it’s because it’s all wrong. It is difficult to accept reality as it is and reconcile it with our expectations. This behavior ultimately brings us suffering.

Difficult moments come because it has to be. The way out is not in trying to escape them, but in the opposite: accepting them.  With hard times come new learnings, both external and internal; are perfect times to evolve. The more you resist accepting difficulties, the further away you will be from solving them.

2. Don’t surrender or behave like a victim

The temptation to put yourself in the role of victim is always present, at every moment. It’s a very human attitude, but at the same time very harmful.  What good is it to feel sorry for yourself if in the end all you can do is distance yourself from the moment when you will have to take responsibility again for what happens in your life?

In everything that happens to us, we have a share of responsibility. No problem falls from the sky because yes. Something we did, or didn’t do to get to this situation.  Placing oneself as a victim is a way to potentiate impotence, to persist in the message that we can’t do anything so that it doesn’t happen again.

3. Look inside yourself

When we are full of problems, it is common for us to look outside. We try to act on the outside, with the illusion or intention to change it and thus get out of difficulties. However, this attitude is not very productive, mainly because reality is made up of many variables that are beyond our own control.

In difficult times, we mainly need to look inside ourselves. We are the ones who need to change, as this will sooner or later reflect a change in external circumstances.

4. Thank the universe and life

This is a wonderful key to dealing with any moment of sadness or dejection. Simply close your eyes, take a deep breath and say “Thank you”. Trust in the deep wisdom of life. If you’re going through a difficult circumstance, it’s because you need it.

This little ritual has almost magical effects. Just by giving out loud thanks immediately puts you in a different emotional state.  It doesn’t matter if in principle this gratitude is not born from your heart; you will find that, over time, this “Thank you” will fill with content.

5. Remember that everything changes

Remember these wise words that can be applied to any situation: “This too will pass.” Everything in the universe is dynamic and constantly changing. When we go through a difficult situation, or a very happy one, we tend to think that it will last forever. But this is not so.

Sometimes you just have to wait a while and let things fall into place. Thinking in parallel and engaging in other activities, solutions and answers will begin to emerge. At other times you will need to act, and then let your actions reap their own rewards. Trust.

6. Look for a new perspective

Faced with a difficulty, you can take different perspectives.  You can see it as a catastrophe, only comparable to a tsunami. You can see it as an obstacle that needs to be avoided, as a barrier that needs to be crossed, or as proof of how tough life is.

But you can also choose to see this difficulty as a challenge to your growth, an opportunity to learn more about yourself or to develop your patience. You are the author of your own thoughts and your way of looking at the world. It’s up to you how you want to position yourself in the face of a problem or several.

7. Accept that anything is possible

In difficult times, pessimism seems to have a preferential invitation.  People even think that keeping hope alive can be the source of new disappointments. It’s important to think about the difference between hoping for the best and creating an expectation. The first opens you up to the possibility that events can happen in your favor. The second feeds an obsessive fantasy with no real foundation.

Never forget that miracles happen every day. Nor that you are a human being capable of overcoming all kinds of adversity. You also carry within you the possibility of creating the unexpected. Sometimes it is these great difficulties in life that cause us to rise above ourselves and show us that we can continue to grow at any age.