How do you see challenges you face? Do they seem overwhelming like you want to run away from them? Does frustration kick in asking yourself why did this happen to me or saying this is not fair. It is natural to feel this way because there is pain felt as you go through it and this comes from our brain designed to keep you safe wanting to avoid pain. It might hurt your confidence knowing that you come up short as it might trigger feelings and thinking that you are not good enough. And it is easy to give into that feeling. But you can work to overcome that feeling and overcome these difficulties.
If you're looking for a better way to handle the challenges you face start by seeing them as an opportunity to get better. It really is a chance to strengthen and grow once you decide attack it head on. If you think about your muscles for them to get stronger you need to put them under stress through repetition. For anything to get stronger it needs to be exercised.
And the challenges you face are a way for your traits such as resiliency, grit, resourcefulness, and focus to strengthen. Many times, these intrinsic traits are not thought of because we only need them in times of desperation. How many of us really think about how strong is my resilience. The times we use them is when we're bouncing back from things like failure. And many of us are not looking to actively fail. It’s kind of like insurance a lot of people are not excited to buy insurance, instead they are more excited to get the car or the house. But you'll need it in case of an accident to cover your cost. And these traits work the same way you'll need them in hard times. And to develop them they need to be tested so look to the challenges you face as an opportunity to strengthen these traits which is going to strengthen you and help you grow.
Ways to build seeing things as opportunities
Look to condition yourself to see what is difficult as an opportunity by building mental strength. Start by be being self-aware and recognizing what limitations you are putting on yourself. Think about the things that you tell yourself that you can't do and examine why you tell yourself that. Just because it's difficult or is not yet understood does not mean it can't be done. It just might mean figuring out a way has not been found. Incorporate phrases such as I can do this by figuring out whatever is holding you back.
Reflect on what thoughts you have when things don't go your way. This will help determine your starting point. The more you can handle yourself with composure the better you can manage your thoughts. Being overly critical and self-defeating will make it more difficult to overcome the things that you're going through. And when you find yourself having these thoughts it is helpful to actually write it out and read it back to yourself as this can help you gain perspective and see that you are beating yourself up unnecessarily.
Make it a habit to take on difficult things. You can start off with some simple things to work up to what is more difficult. Start off with doing things that are a bit inconvenient to acclimate yourself. This could be parking at a longer distance from the store to force you to walk more. This will help you become accustomed that an inconvenience is not that big of a bother. Because if you think about it parking at the end of a parking lot at a store how much more time do you really spend walking, maybe an extra 30 to 45 seconds as opposed to driving around until you find the closest spot. When you start taking these small steps you then can gradually build up to something more.
Be committed to your personal growth and remember that your journey in life will be long. This will help you seek out new experiences that will be scary and risky that will tear away at the timidness you may experience as you strive to make progress. And to make progress, challenges must be taken on as this is what forces you to rise above it. The more you are able to take on new things the more comfortable you become in unsettling situations. So, when something unexpected happens you are more inclined to take a calm approach.
Another way to see difficulties as opportunities is managing your emotions to have them work for you. Being able to regulate them will help you during those difficult time so you do not feel as overwhelmed. Emotions are a big thing as to why we do anything, it can motivate us to achieve great things like finding common ground to create peace, but it could also motivate us to destruct things if we feel threatened. The better you can manage your emotions the more you are developing your self-discipline that continues to build your mental strength. Managing your emotion does not mean completely blocking them out but figuring out which emotions can help you in which emotions can hurt you.
While you know you may want to see challenges as opportunities it's going to take time to develop that perspective. You must be patient with yourself and reset each time you feel like giving into what is hard. It's going to be natural to become frustrated when you struggle with something, and you should give yourself time to process that frustration so you can overcome it. And once you can overcome that frustration you have more of an ability to see things as opportunities. You just have to remind yourself that the things you’re struggling with is opportunity to better yourself.
As you take on whatever comes your way you’re going to have to fail. There is no way around it. You are going to need to take risks and know that failure will happen. You have to put yourself in situations where you experience failure and as you go through it, you have to give yourself time to process it so you are familiar with that feeling and can reflect on it later. Don't fight the resistance of falling short but lean into it and see how it can better serve you going forward. One thing that is helpful going into a situation where you know failure is a real possibility is tell yourself, how are you going to respond to this if failure happens. And when it does occur, look at the things that you did do well so you can build momentum from it. Simply focusing on the negative will be destructive so you need to balance that with what was positive from that experience.
Final thoughts
Overcoming challenges are why any sort of progress is made. It is the basis for your personal growth. Without them you would remain the same. You will be better for it once you decide to take on the obstacles you face. Just remember the process will hurt at times, but that just is a reminder you are getting stronger.
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