Life is going to challenge each and every one of us with difficult times
Getting through the most difficult times in life is often the hardest thing we need to go through as humans — but it’s necessary.
Everything I share, is based off of my own experiences coupled with knowledge I have obtained over time. I want to help you believe that you can lift your spirits even during the most difficult times in your life.
I have read countless books and I have met some pretty amazing people in my life. Angels, as I like to call them. I have had one special mentor, that really showed me a thing or two about life and leadership. Overall, I have been blessed. But, things haven’t always been easy. This is where I have found something special.
I have never grown into a better version of myself, during great happy times. I have always seen the growth within myself throughout the most difficult times in my life. Because of this, I have learned to embrace difficult times and you need to as well.
The best teacher in life is experience. We must go through different experiences in order to learn and in order to grow properly. What I didn’t know back then, was that the single most important factor to this equation, is how you decided to react to the circumstances at hand.
The way we choose to react to the circumstances that are taking place in our lives around us, will single handedly make you into the person you want to become. This will depend on how much self awareness you choose to develop. We build habits, we build behaviors and we stick to those habits and behaviors the more that we implement them over time.
We are going through life just reacting. As individuals, we are not slowing down enough to take a step back, remain calm, and look at the situation for what it is. We are not deciding to choose how we are going to handle a specific situation.
When I think about the fact that I have built a person over time, without even knowing what I was doing— it frustrates me. I later ended up walking through life broken. Not because of what people have done to me or said to me, but because of the way I chose to react to those situations.
It wasn’t until I discovered how to control the way I react to things, that I really found the way to build character. I am just in the beginning phases of this journey. However, I have found great value in understanding this and therefore I feel responsible to share with you.
Life is designed in a way, that no matter what you do—you will go through difficult times. I don’t just mean oh my car broke down and I don’t have money to fix it. This is a valid example of a difficult scenario (I have been there). But no, I am talking about situations that will shake you down to your core. A relative passing, a mom or dad divorce, a health disability, losing a child, abuse in your home or relationship. These things are happening everyday around us and we are just doing our best to just get through them the only way we know how — we just keep trucking. It’s the only thing you really can do, unless you throw in the towel and call it quits.
But, what if we could take it a step further. What if, in addition to keep trucking along, we can use these circumstances to experience gratitude during our most darkest moments. What if, we could use these moments to grow and set ourselves up for the difficult moments that are yet to come. I rather be prepared for something than to go in blind and not be ready. This only makes things more difficult.
We are going to be battle tested in life. Whether you like it or not. If you haven’t reached that point in your life just yet, then you are probably still very young. Although you are still young, you can begin adopting this mindset and start preparing yourself for what is to come in your future.
Nothing is going to come easy in life. From my experience, things that come easy in life, usually end up becoming a problem later down the line. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to start working on your character and focus on building self awareness, because it is the one thing that is going to propel you forward properly. You need to develop the mindset to embrace difficult times and use those moments to grow.
A lot of what happens in our lives, we are in control of. I say this because, we can control how we decide to react. Personally, this requires so much attention to detail, an immense amount of self awareness, and a whole lot of practice. For you it may be easier, but for me, that is what it takes.
The more that we walk in life without the proper awareness, the harder we are going to feel life’s hits. At least that is what has happened to me. If it’s happening to me, there is a high probability that there is another person out there experiencing the same thing. Most likely, even a higher percentage of people who have never even given this any thought or haven’t realized yet how hard life can hit. I truly want to help those people.
My intention in writing this is to help others and be of service. I am still growing and learning to walk through life. Although, I have experienced a lot of difficulty and pain, I am sure that what life is going to bring in the future, is going to be even harder and heavier. Sound’s dark? I know, but it’s the truth.
Truth is not easy to accept sometimes. People don’t want to face certain things. Simply because it scares them, it’s dark, it’s sad, it’s heavy, it’s emotional. I get all that. But, if you want to learn how to get through difficult times, then you need to come to terms with yourself. You need to start focusing more and more on how you are choosing to spend your time and how you are choosing to react to the things that are taking place around you. Whatever that is, no matter how large or how small the obstacle at hand is – pay attention! The more that we do this, the better we become at handling life’s punches.
If you believe that life is going to be some easy walk in the park, then you are just setting yourself up for failure. Whatever you decide your outlook in life to be, your destination will reflect it.
For certain, life is going to bring about challenges so tall, you won’t see how you could ever overcome them. I would start building the person you need to become in order to get over, under, around, or through those difficult times.
The way I do this, is what I have discovered to be effective in my own life. I pray, I exercise, I increase sleep, I increase water intake, and I journal. I block out noise and distance myself from people that make negative comments or criticize often. By combining all of these, I can get through anything. Not only can I get through anything, I can build myself into the person God created me to become in order to get through life’s next stages. There’s levels to this game called life. Get to work.
