How To Summon Courage In The Face of Adversity

Life is not perfectly stable. Sometimes things will go the way you want while other times, things will go wrong. When bad things happen, it’s not the circumstance that really matters but it’s your reaction that determines if things will get better or worsen. Having a positive reaction to a negative circumstance is difficult but that’s the kind of reaction you need to heal from the effects of negative circumstance and to improve the situation.
Negative circumstances require courage because nobody will face your fears for you. It’s your situation and you have to face it yourself. There are practical ways to summon courage in the face of adversity.

• Talk to someone who has faced your type of circumstance: Sometimes when you’re going through a negative experience, it’s normal to feel alone and that worsens your sadness and deepens your fear. Talking to someone who has gone through or is going through what you’re facing will help you feel like you’re not alone.

• Don’t push away your fears and emotions: In the face of a terrible circumstance it is normal to feel sad and fearful. A lot of people tend to push their fear and sadness away because they don’t want to become overwhelmed by them. Face your emotions and let them overwhelm you to full capacity. Emotions don’t last and you will eventually get over your emotions after embracing them and dealing with them.

• Be grateful for something: Whenever we’re faced with difficult situations, its normal for us to focus on the situation at hand and forget things that we should be grateful for despite what we’re facing. Being grateful in the midst of a negative circumstance is very difficult because it’s not easy to smile or celebrate when you’re consumed with sadness but choosing to be grateful will make you feel that life is not so bad after all and a little ray of sunshine can do some good in your moment of darkness.

• Focus on a solution: Even though you’re facing a difficult situation, you cannot dwell in that situation forever. Give yourself some time to process the situation and come to terms with your emotions but also get creative on ways to either solve the situation or reduce the negative effect of the situation. Learn lessons from what you’re going through. Life may not go back to the way it was before that situation happened but life can move forward and get better. You can also use the lessons learned from your situation to make positive changes in your life that will make you grateful for the situation in the future.

• Practice forgiveness: If you’re going through tough times as a result of what someone has done to you, release the person from your mind. Releasing the person from your mind doesn’t excuse what that person has done but it separates you from the resentment you feel that is preventing you from moving forward. Bottling up resentment against someone that has hurt you doesn’t punish your offender. It punishes you instead. If you were hurt unintentionally, understand that people make mistakes. You have hurt someone before and will probably hurt someone unintentionally in the future. We’re living in a world where one person’s choices can have an effect on someone else. Sometimes, you cannot separate yourself from the effect of other people’s mistakes. If someone hurt you intentionally, understand that people do terrible things to others because of who they are and the issues they’re struggling with. Refusing to forgive them means embracing the negativity they want to project on you. Don’t allow yourself to be caged by their terrible actions. Forgive them and set yourself free. If you caused your pain, forgive yourself for your mistakes. Forego the need to be perfect. Accept your imperfections and learn from your mistakes. Don’t remain regretful because it does nothing to change your situation. Other people have made worse mistakes and everybody makes mistakes.

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Even though difficult situations cannot be totally avoided, their occurrence can be reduced. Always be careful of your choices because for every bad choice, there is a consequence. Don’t take decisions impulsively. Think before you act. Learn to practice self-control. Cherish your loved ones and don’t take anybody for granted so you don’t regret later. When you become extra careful of your choices, you will minimize regret.
Also know that no matter how cautious you are in life, negative circumstance cannot be totally avoided. Even if you try your best in everything, some things are just beyond your control.