How to Overcome Adversity

When an unexpected problem arises, it’s very easy to lose your emotional grip of the situation. This problem just comes out of the blue and immediately takes over your life. It’s ferocious and overwhelming, and certainly not something you want to deal with. But it’s here, and you must now learn to deal with it. In times like this it’s important to stay calm and collected, and then step back emotionally from the situation. View this problem as an neutral observer from afar in a detached way. See it objectively and rationally. At the same time tune into your thoughts and assess how you’re reading and interpreting this situation.

What matters most at this time is not what you do about this problem. What matters is actually how you see the problem, how you respond to this problem, and how well you maintain your composure. In other words, you must put yourself into an optimal state-of-mind where you can then deal with this problem most effectively. This of course is heavily reliant on the story you tell yourself about this problem. If you tell yourself a woeful and uninspiring story about what happened, then that will put you into a very unresourceful state-of-mind. But tell yourself an empowering story, and that will give you the strength you need to move forward.

Now that you have put yourself into a more resourceful state-of-mind, it’s time to take ownership of this problem. Yes, we all understand this problem isn’t your fault. In fact, you probably had little to no control over the outcome. But here you are caught in this mess — a mess that you must now deal with. Complaining, blaming and making excuses won’t change your situation, so why even bother? The only rational approach you have is to take full responsibility for what just happened, and then commit yourself to making things better. This problem might very well have hurt you, but don’t you dare allow it to break you!

To overcome adversity takes work. It takes mental, emotional and physical energy. In fact, it can very quickly become an excruciatingly draining experience. This is especially true if you’re continuously fighting your battles uphill. With no light at the end of the tunnel, it’s just hard to find the motivation to keep going. However, things don’t need to be this way. You certainly don’t need to be this way. This is where you must dig deep and figure out how to put a positive spin on this experience. Things are possibly not as bad as they appear. Yes, the doors are locked, but just maybe there is a window of opportunity waiting around the corner.

You probably now feel more motivated than ever to push through your problem, and to finally overcome adversity. But unfortunately desire alone typically isn’t enough. What you need is to think through your next steps rationally. And that of course begins with getting a better understanding of your problem. Take a moment to assess your problem. Question what went wrong, why things went wrong, who played a part in this problem, and look for clues that can help you move forward. The more you know about the nature of your problem, the easier the next step of this process will be.

Having taken the time to assess your problem, you’re now ready to move forward toward solving it. However, to overcome adversity requires an understanding of not only the problem but also of where your strengths and weaknesses lie. It requires understanding how to utilize those strengths and the resources you have at your disposal to tackle this problem successfully. But be wary not to bite off more than you can chew. Take your time and work through this problem meticulously one small piece at a time. And of course don’t expect things to go smoothly. Be prepared for anything, and be willing to adapt when more adversity comes your way.