Storms and difficulties are a guaranteed part of life. What those storms are—can look different for everyone. Storms are a part of human life. But thank God that storms are a passing thing. After a storm, there is sunshine. After rain, there are flowers. The goal is to get through the storm in the right way.
How you get through a storm, determines how well you do after a storm. As long as you are trying your best, it’s okay. Don’t worry if you aren’t doing things the best way. Just learn how to do them better. Fall and rise again. I’ve listed a few things that I’ve learned to help me get through a storm in life. I hope that it is encouraging to you.
1. See the circumstances as they are
It can be hard to take a “hard” look at your circumstances. Try your best to look at it from an objective view as much as possible. This is where you can get insight from other people. This is where you can look at the facts and not just your feelings. This is also a good time to pace yourself. Don’t try to make important decisions quickly, make sure you take your time. Analyze the situation and think effectively. Make sure you don’t do it alone.
2. Surrender what you can’t control
Once you find out what’s going on, decide what things you can do to control the situation. Usually, we can only control ourselves. We can’t control much else—like other people, circumstances that show up, the weather, etc. Forgive people and let go of things that you can‘t change. Make sure you do your part to be at peace with others, but all you can control is your part. After that, you have to have faith and learn to trust the process.
3. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones
After you surrender control, replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. I remember reading a quote that said, “No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future.” I thought that was pretty powerful, because most of us either experience guilt from something that already happened, or anxiety about what is going to come. We can’t change those things, so we need to focus on what is going right. For me the guide of my positive thoughts is the Bible. It is the place I turn to help me think differently about my situation. You just have to keep doing it, until your mind gets renewed—it doesn’t matter how long it takes to get better at it. It is a continual thing.
4. Don’t compare yourself to others
Comparison steals joy. It is a robber. We could be making progress, and be in a better place than we were a month ago, but when we look at someone else being 10 steps ahead of us, we then forget how far we’ve come. Comparing ourselves to others is our mind constantly trying to stay negative. We can’t do that. As tempting as it can be, we have to say no to that. It leads to pride and fear. Be the best version of you, and focus on creating your story, because there is no one else like you.
5. Have an action plan going forward
The action plan is to help us stop thinking “Why me?” to thinking “What now?” You don’t have to have all the answers to “What now?” but it’s a much better use of our time to be solution-oriented in our thinking than problem-oriented. Don’t get me wrong, the problems could be really big, and very difficult. Your problem might legitimately be bigger than someone else’s. But that doesn’t matter, if you are going to think positively. Problem-oriented thoughts lead to comparison and “Why me?” thinking.
Trust me. I understand what it feels like to be stuck in a storm. I’ve been through some pretty big storms. You would never think that I’ve gone through some of the storms that I’ve been through. It’s ok to be sad and it’s ok to cry on somebody’s shoulder. But in the end, you have to hold your head up high and start the process of looking at your circumstances from a positive light.
You are stronger than you think and you are made by an amazing Creator. You are the epitome of uniqueness and resemble what is right with this world. You have the power to influence and impact others. You have the chance to choose to do this now.
Do it with support, let people into your life that can impact you. Become strong, then go and change the world.
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