5 Ways to Help Cope with Hard Times

Acts of Service for Others: Helping others can bring such joy and gratitude into your life. When we are going through difficult times, it feels nearly impossible to see past our pain. It seems as if time isn’t moving, and that we are going to feel this bad forever. I can remember feeling as if my body and mind were too heavy to move or even think about anything. The only thing I could think about was the loop of negativity and replaying traumatic experiences over and over again. As time went on, I began to take small steps to get out of my head and heal. It started small as in basic hygiene and daily tasks. Little by little, I was able to see outside of my pain. It felt good to take care of me, and I felt it instinctually within me to help others. Now, I had to be careful as to help others before myself. See, we are at our best when we can take care of ourselves first and foremost. Part of being my best was finding and living out my purpose.

Helping others, in my opinion, is part of our duty here on Earth. It puts our own lives in perspective. It allows for us to practice gratitude. And finally, we are able to come together and be a bright light in someone else’s life. We all need it sometime or another, and these experiences are the ones that really matter at the end of the day.

Leaning on Support: As I previously stated, we all need support. I never realized this. Most of my relationships (of all kinds) were interconnected strings of codependency. This only allowed me to focus on these toxic but comfortable relationships. I never knew the meaning of true support. I never realized how much I needed it, and how hard it was to lower my ego and show vulnerability. Later, I realized this was one of my biggest strengths. But one thing I learned was to not allow everyone in. Have those boundaries high and consistent, and wait until you find the right support for you that you deserve!

Educating Ourselves: Hard times come with hard decisions and going within. Although support is a must, knowing that you can trust yourself is one of the most freeing and empowering feelings. This takes time, dedication, and patience. But it is one of the few things that is always worth it. One of the ways we can start to trust ourselves is to educate ourselves. It is our most powerful tool. No one can take that away from us. And the best part is that it can be so fun as well 😊

Following Through on More Things That are Good for Us: It is all about the follow through. I don’t know how many times I came up with ideas and a plan, and I didn’t follow through on it. I didn’t keep my promise to myself. I felt insecure and not worthy or talented enough. I have self-sabotaged and didn’t even realize it. I didn’t have a handle on my anxiety, and that made any kind of change difficult. I have also catastrophized many future experiences. But following through, and eventually keeping my promises, made me realize I could do all of the things I wanted to do. I could be happy, and I deserved to be. There was a point in my life where being happy scared me because I didn’t know it was possible, and if it was, I didn’t want to experience it and lose it. When I took the risks and the leaps of faith, whether it worked out or not, it allowed for me to persevere and gain the confidence I needed to live my life and fulfill my purpose.

Focusing in on our Mindset: One of the few things we all have the ability to control is our mindset. Life can be hard. It is actually difficult, and we aren’t guaranteed the outcomes we want, or we think we deserve, but we can control our perspective and our mindset. We can choose to see the positives. We can choose to see the love and the solutions. We can choose to see the good. Focusing on our mindset and perspective can be our saving grace and open our eyes and our hearts to our best possible lives.