Experiencing a Setback?
There will be times in your life when you experience a financial crisis, a breakup, emotional challenges, unemployment, or some other setback. Life challenges will happen but what matters most about these challenges is how you respond to them.
Distress and panic are common initial reactions to a setback, but it’s important to pause, reflect, and find meaning and opportunities from your setback. Legends and fables from around the world are rich with lessons of setbacks and then subsequent rebirth and resurrection. Walt Disney and many more very successful people began their empires by knowing this eternal truth. When you are faced with a setback you have a freedom to rise again.
Tips To Help You Come Back From a Setback
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Worry the right way.
Jerilyn Ross, psychotherapist and coauthor of One Less Thing to Worry About, says that it is essential that you distinguish between productive worries (ones what get you moving) and destructive worries (ones that leave you in a loop of negative thinking). Face your fear. Write your problems down, sort them and tackle them one by one.
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Use your resources.
Studies show that people with a strong social support structure live longer, more productive, happier lives. Use these resources to help you through tough times. Your friends, family, and neighbors want to help. Tell them exactly what you need and let them in. Asking for help is a virtue of power not weakness.
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Enjoy your newfound freedom.
Whatever the setback, you’ll probably find that you’ve got more time on your hands. Use this time to do things you’ve been putting off. Read an inspirational book , discover painting, learn a new language. Begin to do new things you never had enough time for.
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Learn from it.
After mourning the loss, an essential step, according to specialist Lisa Nichols, is to find something meaningful or useful to take away from the situation. As the saying goes, take lemons and make lemonade. Be sure to take away a positive life lesson from every setback. This will help you learn more about yourself and your abilities going forward.
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Write it down.
Don’t forget to keep a journal during each setback in your life. Write down the setback, the emotions you experience (fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy), what options you have in this setback, the options you choose, and the results of your choices. Recording your experience will be invaluable information as you journey through life and experience other setbacks in your magnificent life. It is also great material for a future inspirational book.