3 ways to face the hard stuff in life: how to overcome the things that will ultimately benefit you in the long run

It’s hard, but there is a way

For some reason when I was little, I looked up to my parents and everyone else that was older than me and saw that things were just easier. My parents seemed happy at their job, worked from home some of the time, we were able to get cell phones, and go to school. My parents made everything look easy. There was something about how they lived life and worked that was smooth.

Nothing seemed hard, except for a few arguments that I remember them having. Other than that, they worked together and made a good life for my sister and I.

What I didn’t see was the exhaustion they had after we went to bed. I didn’t see the hard conversations they probably had together when we were in school, and did not see the struggles they probably had when it came to finances or coming up with special things to do with my sister and I for our birthday’s/holiday’s.

Life is hard, but when you are a kid you don’t see that. I guess that’s why I became more confused as I got older when life began to get hard. I didn’t understand why life was so hard, because everyone who was older than me made it look so easy.

As I get older, harder things like having a conversation with a spouse or family member, dealing with situations that are out of your control, or leaving something at the last minute that could create multiple consequences for yourself are tough. Often I just want to sit and imagine someone else dealing with all of the struggles that I encounter on a monthly basis!

Over the last 2 years we have sat in the COVID 19 pandemic I’ve thought about the hard stuff and came up with 3 ways to face the hard stuff in life. These are just coming from my experience with struggle, but I thought I’d share them to see if they’d help anyone else:

3 ways to face the hard stuff

Be in the NOW

Many days I worried about tomorrow, next week or the next year.

As time went on I realized worrying about my tomorrow or my next week did nothing but shoot my anxiety through the roof. It wasn’t worth it. Once I focused on the now, I was able to focus on today and attempt to give my all instead of giving part of my thoughts to the future or past.

Converse about it

Often we think conversing about our struggles will do us and others no good if we share what is bothering us. This is not true. Hard conversations are crucial for your growth as a person, and allows you to see the reality of a particular situation.

Find someone that you trust or a therapist that is willing to sit down with you and hear you out. Be open to questions that might feel like they don’t support your cause because hard situations mean hard conversations so you can figure out how to mange the situation and ultimately come out the other end feeling good about yourself.

When you talk about the problem at hand, you’ll feel a sense of closure and will be able to make a choice of what to do in the moment.

Enjoy the ride

Every set back opens new potential and new opportunities for the future. Hard times are part of the process of life. Your journey will ultimately call for these hardships and will call upon you to simply enjoy the ride so you can manage struggles that come your way.

Often you cannot do much about things that affect you like a stock market crash, or not being able to pay your credit card because you lost your job. These things happen, and all you can do is be on the ride called life, and work on improving your situation so you can be more financially stable.

When we go through tough times we come out the other side stronger and more resilient.