This guide outlines how to overcome challenges in life and career so they do not become permanent setbacks to restrict your career and wellbeing.
We all hope that life will be smooth, but reality tells us that from time to time, we’ll have to encounter difficult moments that we’d rather live without. Ideally, we’ll minimize these inconvenient moments, but even in the best-case scenario, we’ll need to accept that we’ll face some tough times and have to overcome challenges throughout the course of our lives.
It’s not the presence of these difficult moments that’s important. What matters is how we respond to them. If we can react appropriately, then we can prevent even more problems from happening. It’s easy to get into exceptionally difficult periods if we let setbacks develop into a negative downward spiral.
In this guide, we’re going to take a look at some of life’s most trying aspects, and also offer advice on how you can overcome challenges you will face from them. We’re not saying that our advice will make life a stroll in the park. It won’t be easy, but we do think that it’ll be easier, and that’s about as much as we can hope for!
How to overcome challenges
Business Failure
It’s one thing to lose your job. But at least in that scenario, you can take solace in the fact that it was largely beyond your control; it was the decision of other people. Experiencing business failure is different in that it feels much more like a reflection of ourselves rather than anything else, even if that’s not really the case.
The best way to deal with failure as an entrepreneur is to expect it to happen. The list of companies that make it through to success is pretty small. It’s more likely that a business will fail than it will succeed. Plus, remember that some of the most successful entrepreneurs in history have a long list of failures under their belts. Yet we’d never call them failures.
The primary way to overcome challenges from business failure is not to take it personally. Your business failure isn’t a reflection of who you are as a person. With that mindset, you’ll be more willing to undertake the task that really does bring success — getting back on the horse and trying again.
Losing Your Job
We all need a stable income. Having a job doesn’t just provide you with the money that you need to meet your basic needs, but it also gives you a sense of self. And losing either your income or your sense of self can be pretty traumatic, especially if it came as a complete surprise.
Preventing losing your job from becoming too much of a challenge begins in advance. It’s a good idea to have a safety cushion of cash that you can call upon in the event of unexpected unemployment. You’ll feel much better about losing your job if you know that you can pay your bills for the forthcoming months.
From there to overcome challenges? It’s all about hustling to find new work. It’s fine to spend a week doing nothing but coming to terms with the new situation, but after that, it’s time to get back to work — it’s just that, this time, your work is finding a new job. You might just find that if you approach it with enthusiasm and positivity, then the employment that you end up with is better than what you had before.
The End of a Relationship
It doesn’t matter how or why a relationship ends. Even in the best scenarios, it still sucks. And those ‘best scenarios’ are pretty rare. Most of us go through at least major heartbreak over the course of our lives. In fact, that so many of us go through it is a source of comfort in itself; it can feel like an isolated, individual, lonely experience, but the reality is that we’ve all been there — and we’ve all come through the other side.
Still, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s difficult to manage. You may need to go through the process of rebuilding your life. The best advice to overcome challenges like this is to simply put one foot in front of the other. It’s not about feeling happy, because you won’t. Simply do all the essentials (exercising, eating well, spending time with friends) and wait for happiness to come to you, which it will. In addition to doing things that’ll push you forward, it’s arguably just as important to avoid doing things that’ll drag you into misery, such as drinking alcohol and being critical of yourself. Those things won’t serve any positive purpose.
Suffering a Life Changing Injury
It can be challenging when our cars stop working as we expect them to. But when our bodies stop working as we expect them to? That’s another level of difficulty entirely. Of course, it’s normal for a person’s body to slow down as they age. That’s just part of the process. The troubling aspect happens when our bodies stop working suddenly, for instance, following an accident.
At that point, it can be difficult to overcome challenges and adjust to the new reality. There are things you can do that’ll help you to move forward with confidence, however. For instance, allowing yourself to go through the grieving process — it’s OK to feel angry and sad. From there, it’s about taking action.
This may involve seeking justice for your injuries, for example, by getting in touch with a solicitors firm such as Gadsby Wicks and getting the compensation you deserve, or by pressing charges against the guilty party. You’ll also want to begin hobbies and activities that you can enjoy. Even if you’re unable to do your old activities, you might just find that you can discover new passions that bring fulfillment and happiness
Making Mistakes
We all make mistakes. Ideally, these will be small mistakes that only need a little bit of time to correct. If you’ve moved in with someone who turns out to be problematic, then then it’s an inconvenient mistake, but it’s not going to seriously derail your life — you just need to move. But then there are the mistakes that are less easy to clean up, and if they’re mistakes that are yours and yours alone, then it can be difficult to overcome challenges to find the right path forward.
And that’s largely because we’re consumed by shame and guilt that we committed the mistake in the first place. It’s not easy confronting the fact that you committed a crime, for example, or you did things that had a negative impact on the people that you love. In these scenarios, it’s really important to remember that, while you can’t control the past, you can control the future.
The future is yours to write, and it’s the actions that you take now that’ll determine your coming years, not what you did in the past. You can’t undo what you did, but you can prevent it from becoming your life’s story. That’s up to you to write.
Friends Drifting Away
People don’t talk about friends drifting away as a major challenge, but it actually is. It can be difficult to reach middle age and realize that you’re no longer in communication with old friends — and that, in fact, you may not have any close friends at all.
In that scenario, there are a couple of things you can do to overcome challenges like this. You can remember that it’s normal for people to drift apart. You can also decide to reach out to old friends — unless it was a bitter falling out, you’ll likely find that they’re happy to catch up with you. If the old friends are gone for good, then focus your energy on making new friends. It’s a myth that it’s impossible to make friends once we reach a certain age. It’s just that you have to work harder to get those friends. It’s all about effort. You won’t find a gang of pals if you’re just waiting for people to show up, but if you’re willing to put the work in, you can find them.
Losing a Loved One
We left this one for last, but it’s probably the most difficult thing that anyone can go through. Even if it’s expected, it can be exceptionally difficult to say goodbye to someone you love once and for all. Everyone goes on their own grieving journey, but there are things you can do that can make the process easier to manage.
First of all, surround yourself with family and friends. They’ll likely be going through the grieving process just as much as you are, and there’s a lot of power in sharing the experience.
It’s also important to give yourself as much time as you need — some people go through the grieving process in two weeks, others need six months, and others need a year. There’s no right or wrong amount of time. Finally, while there’s a lot of advice out there, we think the best advice came from the late, great comedian, Norm MacDonald. He said the best way to handle grief is to take all the love you had for the person you’ve lost and throw it back into the world. It’ll help to put you on a positive path.
