Do you ever find yourself hitting a roadblock and wondering what is going to happen next? Maybe you have been stuck with a crazy work deadline, you might have friends complaining about different stressors, or you feel overwhelmed with everything from finances to relationships. A busy time in your life can feel as though your world is spinning out of control. So what do you do?
When life gets out of hand, it’s an opportunity to spend some time stepping back to care for your mental health and reflect. How do you start? Remind yourself about your feelings and values. This can be a great way to release tension and to be true to yourself. You can reflect on the past and the present and even prepare for the near future. As a result, you will be working towards being stress-free, optimizing your motivation and inspiration, and even erasing your frustrations. Use these reminders as a form of self-care to bring more joy into your life.
Below are eight things to remind yourself of when life gets out of hand.
1. Only YOU are in control of your own life. Do as you want.
When people try to tell you that you need to focus on different things, not the ones you are currently focusing on, just remind yourself: you are the pilot of the aircraft called ‘LIFE’. You are the one that can control your actions and destinations. Just remember that you have the equivalent amount of time in a day as everyone else and it is up to you and you alone to decide what you do with it.
2. Try not to worry about what other people might think of you.
As Bruce Lee once said: “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
Remind yourself of this statement every day – just as I did! You are probably believing that people are thinking about you, but the truth is they are likely not. In fact, just like you, they are spending as much time wondering what other people are thinking about them, and so on. You have to stop worrying about this. It really doesn’t matter. When life gets out of hand, you should only worry about what you’re doing and not what other people say or think about what you’re doing. If you want to achieve success, peace, or happiness – stop seeking approval from your co-workers, friends, or parents. The only approval you should seek is your own.
3. Invest in yourself: Read, Work, Study, Exercise, Create
We’ve all heard this probably a million times, and I’m going to mention it again. The best investment anyone can do is to invest in themselves. Whether you want to find a new hobby, buy a book that will help you understand your marketing role better, or start a workout routine to get in shape at the gym – INVEST time in yourself and your growth to receive the rewards afterward.
I believe that in life there are three options: stand still, step back, or move forward. Which will you choose?
4. You are the only one that can define happiness for yourself. Now go live it.
Some of us defined happiness at an early age. We have every right to say that is what we call FREEDOM. It’s the ability to wake up in the morning, go to bed at night and do exactly what we want in between. Sure, for someone like me, that can sometimes mean writing a blog post or talking with clients about my projects.
Identify what makes you happy and build it into your routine to appreciate every moment. Happiness could be spending time with your kids. It could be working on a new project. It could just be spending time with your friends. But remember: define what makes you happy and chase it.
5. Tackle the hard work first.
It is very easy to wake up and spend three morning hours reading through emails or online articles. What’s not easy, is to launch yourself right into the bulk of your work. With that being said, finishing the most difficult tasks first will help you free up and smooth out the rest of the day, so you are not stressing later about deadlines. Make life a bit easier for yourself by focusing your productivity on the hard work first.
6. Spend time helping others
It might sound odd, but I am a firm believer that we should all give back to this world more than we take. Every day I strive to give back as much as I can, whether it’s in the form of writing, mentorship or public speaking, or anything else that could be considered help. Helping others not only makes life a bit easier for them, but it makes you feel better too! Whether you help your neighbor carry in groceries, help your partner with a project, or volunteer at a food bank, helping others releases anxieties and can take your mind off of your stress. I have found a relationship between how much I help others and how lucky and grateful I feel.
7. Consume less, create more
All of us are born with the ability to create. That’s the reason why when we are kids they give us play dough and art supplies, or why kids now love Minecraft and LEGOS. The reason is simple, to create. When life gets out of hand, creating can be a form of self-care that releases stress. Creativity comes in different forms and shapes. Some of us create blogs, others create buttons, baked goods, phone apps, or furniture for the living room. But besides creating we are also born with the need to consume. We consume drinks, music, food, energy, water and much more.
The problem here is, that we may be consuming far more than we are creating. Just look around you, look at our society where over-consumption is the norm. So, when you’re watching that commercial that tells you to buy that new dress, try to create something with what you’ve already bought before. In the end, the satisfaction will be even better than buying a new dress.
8. Remind yourself that a bad year is not a bad life.
“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f**k on.” ― Tupac Shakur
At some point in our lives, we will all struggle. As a matter of fact, a lot of people experience constant struggle periods in their lives and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But struggle and hardship is the reality of life. It is a part of it and we must accept and learn from it. Struggles come in different sizes and in many shapes. It could come in the form of a bad relationship or a job you despise. But the most important thing is to remember that struggles of the past will never ruin your upcoming chapters. A bad day, week, month, or even year, does not mean you are doomed for a bad life.
In this great story called life, it is always important to remember three golden words: It goes on.
Find a health coach near you to jumpstart your wellbeing for when life gets out of hand.
