Kevin Ocasio https://kevinocasio.com 4m 1,056
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Tips For When Things Go Wrong
I don’t think there’s anyone in this world lucky enough to have lived long without experiencing any kind of major crisis. Not to be a bummer, but at one point or another, things do tend to go wrong.
Problems can be as simple as making a wrong turn when you’re in a new city. Or they can be as life-altering as spending all your hard-earned money on buying a new house, only to find out to you bought the wrong one.
Things could either happen for a reason, or for apparently no reason at all. I know firsthand how irritating it is when people keep telling you that there’s a good reason for whatever problem or calamity befalls you.
Some people even go as far as to point out that other people suffer through more than you do. That kind of unsolicited advice never helpful, no matter how well-intentioned. Aside from that, it invalidates the agony you are going through. Just because other people have it worse doesn’t mean your own suffering is less real.
More importantly, how exactly do you deal when this happens?
Here are 5 tips to help pick you up when things go haywire:
1. Like it or not, things sometimes just…happen
It could rain on your long-awaited holiday. The stock market could crash. Your trusted computer could conk out just when you need it the most.
Countless things are beyond our control. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, things just have a way of going out of hand. Or sometimes things go wrong and there really just isn’t anything that we can do about it.
Setbacks may be minor, or may also be huge. But bottomline is they’re exactly just that. Setbacks. The only way to counter them is to move forward.
2. Your response matters more than the problem itself
Imagine this.
You’ve been working on your blog for months and months on end. You’ve taken care of it like your own child and coaxed it into growing and becoming productive. Then one day, your whole blog just suddenly crashes for some reason. You were so focused on growing it that you forgot the most important thing: backing it up.
Which means you have to start from scratch. Ouch.
You could stay depressed and wallow in your misery. You might even want to give up.
Or you could also start working on getting back on track. Soon enough you’ll have your blog up and running again. With lessons learned from past experience, it might even turn out better than the original.
As a blogger, I’ve had my fair share of mishaps. Buggy plugins. Bad SEO. Not knowing what tools to use to grow my site faster. I’ve been through all that and a little more besides. I suppose I could have focused on the time and energy I lost. But instead, I chose to face the problems head on. I made the conscious decision to focus on solutions instead. Now, whenever I can, I share what I learn along the way as blogging tips at KevinOcasio.com to help out those who may be going through the same thing I did.
My point is, whatever your profession is or whatever it is you’re into, you’ll always be bound to encounter problems for as long as you live.
What makes the difference, and what decides whether or not you overcome your crisis, is how you respond to it. Same rule applies to everything else in life.
3. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
Cliché or not, this still holds true. Successful people are those who overcome the same crises that bring other people to their knees.
When in doubt, remember that problems – especially the major ones – can hurt like hell. But, at the same time, they also strengthen your personality and leave you better able to deal with similar situations in the future.
Another thing about facing an unfair amount or size of problems is that, when you finally survive it, you know that you’ll be able to survive everything else.
4. Don’t let worry sap the life out of you
It’s perfectly human to start worrying whenever you’re faced with a problem. Especially when you’re not sure how to solve it.
The problem is, worrying has never actually solved anything. Ever.
But trust me on this: the solution is always out there. So instead of giving in to your worries, the best thing to do would be to, first of all, clear your mind of all negativity.
Step away from the source of your distress. Regroup with your friends. Play with your dog. Try and get a good night’s sleep. Hard as it may be, try to focus your attention on something that you enjoy, even for just a few minutes. You’ll be surprised at how well a time-out can refresh your perspectives.
Then, when you’re ready, go back to the problem at hand. You may just find something you haven’t noticed before that could be instrumental in solving your dilemma.
5. Appreciate what you have
No matter how bad things get, there will always be something you can be grateful for. It may just be a bit hard to see clearly when you’re in the middle of a crisis. But there’s always something.
Counting the things you can be thankful for in your life can bring hope and positivity back to you. And although those two things don’t solve problems by themselves, they might just be the push you need to start working on a solution.
And a few more things…
Here are a few additional tips to tide you over during tough times:
Take a break. Breathe. Laugh.
Remind yourself of your goals. Reassess your priorities. Get your feet back on the ground.
Remind yourself of better times. Reassure yourself that you can have them again soon.
Get help. There’s no shame in that. Sometimes communication is key to finding the best solution.
These tips may not be new to you. Maybe you’ve heard it all before. Still, try and keep them in mind. Not that I’m wishing any kind of problem your way. But they just might come in handy next time you face some kind of trouble.
Stay positive. Even when all else fails, there’s always hope.
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