“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

 -Maya Angelou

One thing we all have in common is that throughout our lives we will have to navigate through trials.  Although those trials will be different for every individual, we all experience difficulties in life when maybe things don’t go the way we planned. There are ways, however, that you may be able to get through these struggles a little bit easier.  Here are a few tips that can hopefully help you overcome adversity in your life and remain strong while doing it.

Accept that it happens

On one hand it would be nice if we could all go through life without any hard times.  But on the other hand, as the quote placed above suggests, overcoming our personal burdens is what makes us who we are. Keeping that in mind, one of the ways to overcome our adversity is to accept it and try to do whatever we can to improve the situation. Unfortunately, if we avoid difficult situations, they usually increase or remain stagnant, so accepting that adversity is there is a great first step to making things better.

Look on the bright side

Trying to remain optimistic through hard times is one of the most difficult things to do.  It is so much easier to drown in your sorrows sometimes, but doing so will only produce negative results.  Even if your positive thinking is completely forced and unnatural in the beginning, eventually, going through the motions will bring real results.  I have also found it is easier to develop this quality before a major hurdle hits your life.  If you are used to thinking positively and having faith that everything will work out okay in the end, then adopting that strategy during times of trial will be easier and more intuitive. Try to be a “every cloud has a silver lining” type of human being.

Have a support system, and use it  

I find this suggestion to be one of the most effective ways to handle your adversity.  Spending time with family and friends and people who love and care about you can improve almost all situations. Whether this includes your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, classmates, or even your pet, the mere presence of others can help you get through trials.  If you feel like your support system is lacking, you can work now to build better friendships or enhance family ties so you can feel the love and support when you have a problem come up.

The second part of this suggestion is sometimes the hardest for people.  Many of us have numerous individuals willing and able to help out, but we simply do not ask or accept their help. This is another part of human nature as many of us like to solve our own problems and do not want to feel like we are burdening anyone else.  Sometimes though, when things get too rough for us to handle alone, it is just necessary to throw those notions aside and ask for help. Most people are probably more willing to help than we think. Also, gaining a different perspective on your situation could be really useful for you. Our emotions are often emotionally charged during hard times, which may cloud our judgement, so accepting advice or help from others may be exactly what you need.
These are just some of the methods I have learned to use when battling adversity. In the second part of this post I will write a few more and in the meantime, feel free to share how you deal with hard times, what works and what doesn’t, and any other insights you have to offer.

The fundraising for my Spinal Ride event is in full effect so if you want to donate, know of a business that may want to sponsor, or have a rich aunt looking to help out a good cause, either leave a comment or email me at Kris.sanford7@gmail.com. You can also donate through the donate tab on www.spinalride.com .