When life is hard, and you don’t feel okay, it is important to keep a few things in mind that will help you navigate the hard times. Because difficult things happen we must be emotionally and mentally prepared to cope.
It is given that sooner or later, life throws some punches at us. Sometimes real hard ones. And so there are few helpful things to remember when life gets hard and you just don’t feel okay.
Having some way to anchor yourself will help you keep emotional and mental stability.
And while life may never be the same really after a life-changing having hope and finding solace to cope really helps one to hold on and stay strong.
So let’s look at what you should remember when life is hard and you don’t feel okay.
What to remember when you don’t feel okay
Remember to Give yourself grace
When you don’t feel okay, first you need to know that it is okay to give yourself grace, and love.
One important thing to do when you feel down is not to be too hard on yourself. Cut yourself some slack or give yourself grace. Things happen and life doesn’t always go as planned. You make mistakes.
Everyone does. You are human. If you have made mistakes and you keep beating yourself for it, that is not helpful.
What is helpful is looking for any lesson you may need to learn from the situation, especially if the situation is a result of choices or things you have done. Learn the lesson there and let it go. Let it go.
You are now likely to be a better person for it.
Remember and accept that feeling emotion is what makes you human.
Unfortunately, that means sometimes you feel unhappy emotions and sometimes sad, angry, and many more uncomfortable emotions.
You are human after all. Find what can help make this feeling of sadness, anger, bitterness, whatever the emotion is easier to handle.
You can write in a journal, and reflect, and dig deeper at the root cause of your feelings.
Things can happen to us and what we think is the reason we react a certain way may turn out not to be the case. There may be a deeper reason. So writing how you feel, why you think you feel this way may help you uncover some truth about the situation, yourself, and perhaps, ease your feelings or come to terms with them.
You can also lean on other effective ways to cope with difficult emotions.
You can pray, talk to a friend, the pastor at your church, a therapist, or a family member to ease the emotional burden. It helps a lot to talk to someone. It is therapeutic.
So tell yourself, yes, you are human, and feeling like this is part of being human. But above all, be kind to yourself.
Slow down, rest, and find some soothing activity to do to soothe and calm your mind. Practice heeling self-care at such a time.
Also read: 15 Self-care ideas to make 2021 your best year
Amazingly Simple Self Care Ideas for Moms to improve Mental Health
Remember anything worthwhile takes time
Isn’t that the truth though. Good things mostly take time and hard work. We dont see all the work behind the success we see in others.
But believe there was labor, even maybe some tears in that manifest success. Definitely some sweat. Take heart. Your success is coming. It’s just a matter of time and of course hard work.
Success doesn’t just happen. In many cases, something great takes a lot of effort. Sometimes it takes failing over and over till you get it right. Great things require a lot of figuring out.
The effort is great when you want success and it doesn’t come easy. So if you are working towards something but things are not happening as quickly as you want. Keep working. Give it time.
Life changes are an integral part of life
When you don’t feel okay due to a life change keep in mind life changes are part and parcel of life.
We all know that life does not standstill. Change is part of life. We do have seasons of life just as we have nature seasons. Life keeps evolving. That is one great concept to accept.
That means whatever is happening now will end and something else will replace it. Maybe in the next season, things will be so much better and work in your favor.
When things are hard, it may be just the winter season. It’s not forever. Spring and renewal and Summer of life are just around the corner. Have faith and be strong.
This too shall pass. When you think of life and hardships this way, it gives you hope, and hope is a great gift we give ourselves.
Also, remember life changes make us strong. Sometimes these events help us look at life in a different way. Here is an example of how life changes that are hard can be vehicles to our own change and self-development.
You are much stronger than you may think.
You are strong and this hardship, this moment, is a moment that can lead to tremendous growth and resilience.
When you’re in the midst of a hard season you may wonder how you will ever pull through. But you are strong and more resilient than you may think.
Yes, you will pull through. You will find the strength you need to work the situation out or to go past it. Sometimes it helps to look back at other hard things you have already overcome. You will be okay in this situation too. You have what it takes.
Re-evaluate your thinking when you are feeling overwhelmed
Are you allowing negative thoughts to take over? Are you ruminating and allowing negativity to go on round and round in your mind?
Sometimes we get so negative and the more negative we are the more negative things manifest. It is truth thinking positively attracts good things. Start by changing negative thoughts into positive ones.
Learn to catch those negative thoughts that suck you into a vortex of negativity leaving feeling glum and change them by focusing on the good you already have.
Sometimes we become slaves to our emotions and many things just bother us. There may be another reason why this is happening and talking to a mental health professional can help you find what really is going on. Learn to let go. To start, here are a few ways to tackle the situation where things bother us way too much.
Remember that you can change your perspective on the situation.
Sometimes it is our attitude and perspective that make us suffer.
Let’s say you lose a job for example. You can be angry, groan and moan about it, and mop around. Or you can use that as an opportunity to find even a better job.
It’s cliche but true that when one door closes another door opens. Yes sometimes we fo have to look for the door and even ply it open but there is an opportunity hidden in a situation like that.
You can reevaluate what type of work you really want and start working towards that. If possible you can even go back to school and learn new skills.
Or maybe a boyfriend or partner leaves you. It is hard and painful. But feel bad for a few days. You are human then appreciate that now you have the opportunity to find a better person to invite into your life.
They really were not meant for you. Move on. Maybe travel. Do all the things you couldn’t do when they were around. There is freedom at the end of a relationship. Trust me you will feel lighter and happier without them.
When you don’t feel okay, remember there are people who love you
Perhaps you have been spending too much time alone. Well right now we have this pandemic and it does make things hard. But you can still talk to people even if they may not be in the same place as you.
So call, it is so much better to hear their voice.
You are loved. Keep that in mind when life seems impossible, and find joy in knowing there are people who really care about you and your welfare. Talk to these people and dont suffer alone.
Remember failure doesn’t exist.
Remember too that when you don’t feel okay, perhaps due to failure, failure really doesn’t exist. It is only redirection, pointing you to the success waiting for for you ahead, or around the corner. Keep going. Change your strategy.
Every time you fail at something, you learn something. So if you feel sad because you have failed at something. Look into the lessons that can be learned from this situation.
Then implement those lessons to further improve your life. Every failure is a lesson in life. Use failure fully and try again and try something else. Remember failure just shows you what doesn’t work so you can learn finally what really works. You must keep going. Here is a video that I find encouragement when I feel like giving up.
What to remember when you don’t feel okay
Final words.
So what situation right now is making life miserable and making you feel far from your vibrant happy self? What’s making you feel not okay? Use these tips and face it down.
Do what you need to do to feel okay as long as it is not going to add to your misery. Avoid things that will make these problems worse.
Keep in mind some big things may need you to seek mental health help. Do that. Take care of your mental health.
Rest. Sleep. Exercise. Nourish your body. Pray. The situation is bound to improve. And time will ease the pain in case of a loss. It may not feel like it now. But yes time dulls the pain of loss even though we may never completely heal.
I hope these tips will encourage you to face life situations that make you feel not okay.
And please tell me in the comments, how do you cope when you don’t feel okay and life is hard?
