STAYING POSITIVE WHEN LIFE IS GETTING YOU DOWN
Something completely unexpected knocks the wind right out of your sails. Your kid gets a stomach bug (that makes its way through the entire family). You don’t see the step as you’re rushing to put the groceries away and crush your toes. That big contract at work falls through. Your basement floods. The washer stops working. Someone you were counting on lets you down. And those are just the little things. The reality is that on any given day, life can throw us for a loop in a million different ways—big or small. And while it’s easy to stay positive and motivated when things are going right, it’s not always so easy to keep our chin up when it feels like life just keeps knocking us down. Even so, there are a few manageable things we CAN do to help get us through those rough patches:
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It’s bound to happen, isn’t it? Things are going well, you’re cruising right along feeling like you’ve got it all under control...And then BAM—it hits you.
BY RUTH SOUKUP AUTHOR, PODCASTER, AND FOUNDER OF RUTH SOUKUP OMNIMEDIA
GIVE YOURSELF GRACE It’s okay to recognize that you are having a bad day or going through a rough patch and the situation you happen to be in right now simply sucks. Recognizing that life isn’t going exactly the way you want it to be doesn’t mean you are wallowing, it simply means acknowledging the way you feel, and giving yourself time to work through it mentally and emotionally. Give yourself a little grace.
only a season,” “this too shall pass,” “I am stronger than this obstacle,” “I am willing and will figure this out,” “the way someone else treats me doesn’t define who I am,” etc. It might feel silly, but I guarantee it will start to change the way you view your situation.
CHANGE THE TAPE Whenever things go wrong, there is a certain amount of self-talk that goes on in our own heads, and it’s usually on the negative side. Have you stopped to listen to the message that your tape is playing? If you’re telling yourself things like “I can’t do this,” or “this is too hard,” or “I’m never going to figure this out,” or “the whole world has it in for me,” you need to change the tape. Start replacing and saying out loud, over and over, things like, “I can do this,” “this is
GET SUPPORT It can be hard to ask for help, but you don’t have to do any of this alone. There are people who love and care about you, but chances are they either don’t know you are struggling or don’t know how to help. Be honest and be specific with the people who love you—your spouse, close friends, etc.—in how they can help. Let them know, “I’m really having a hard time right now and I could really use some support. Would you be able to help me by...or with XYZ?”
