When things don’t go your way or when you go through challenging times, you may believe life is difficult.
Challenges in life can include:
- Facing a health issue, both physically and mentally either personally or someone close to you.
- The loss of a friend or loved one.
- Relationship struggles, either personal or professional.
- Pressure working at a job or running a business.
- Financial difficulties that may generate additional stress.
The Dangers of Believing Life is Difficult
Unless you have a healthy mindset or attitude, holding onto the belief that life is difficult can cause:
- Reduced motivation to do the things required to move forward in life.
- Lower self-confidence or willingness to take new risks.
- Emotions of sadness, unease, anxiety, frustration and overwhelm.
- Feeling mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted.
- Additional strain on relationships.
Your experience of life comes down to your beliefs, values, the choices you make and the actions you take daily.
Going through challenging times is something we’ll all experience in our lives. It’s helpful to have reminders or truths you can refer back to, that can get you through those challenging times.
5 Truths to Reflect On When Life Gets Difficult
Here are five things you can remind yourself of whenever you’re going through a challenging period in you life.
- Life is constantly changing or evolving and so can you. Whenever something isn’t evolving, it’s in a state of decline. The challenges you face in life are opportunities for you to change and evolve. As you face your challenges, it will require you to use your inner strength and resources to overcome them.
- Your reality will change only after you change first. Your reality today is the result of your past thinking, choices and actions. If you want a new reality, you have to change first. Change has to happen internally first before you can experience it externally. This means you have to generate new thoughts and emotions and take new actions.
- Your problems aren’t the real problem. It’s your perception of the problems you’re facing that’s the real problem. Perception is your point of view. When you change your point of view, the way you’ll see your problems will also change. A question you can ask yourself is, “How can I view my problem or challenge from a different point of view?”
- It’s okay to have low points but it’s not okay to stay there. Low points give you a better appreciation of the high points in your life. When you experience low points, rather than trying to resist them, it’s better to acknowledge them. You’ll then be in a much better position to make new choices and take new actions.
- The way out is to create a new reality. Sometimes the way out is through. If you don’t like a situation, you can focus on what you want instead. Whenever something isn’t going well, there’s always an opposite reality you can create. Your job is to focus on what you want rather than what’s not going well or what’s not right.
Simple Actions You Can Take When Life is Difficult
- Speak to someone about the challenge or problem you’re dealing with.
- Ask for help.
- Let go of what you cannot control or change.
- Take responsibility for any part you had in creating your current reality.
- Focus on taking at least one action daily that can change your reality.
Conclusion
Life can be difficult if you allow it to be. If you accept you can always change your reality, you’ll make more intelligent choices.
By referring to these truths, you’ll remind yourself that you always have a choice and you can create a new reality.
Action Step: Reflect on how you dealt with a major challenge or difficult period in your life. Capture the truths or lessons you learned that you can use to deal with any new challenges you may face.