How Will You Deal With Life’s Obstacles or Negative Feelings

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Overcoming Obstacles in Life Doesn’t Have to Be Too Hard

How will you deal with life’s obstacles or negative feelings? That’s an interesting topic to discuss. People who study responsibility often learn that the happiest life is not a perfect life.

Their success and overall happiness are due to their attitude toward life and their ability to overcome obstacles.

This explains why some people can be happy even while suffering from a life-threatening illness, while others, rich or poor, can’t see the good in anything. It’s not about what happens to us, but how we respond to it.

Everyone, to some extent, has to deal with difficult situations in their daily lives. When you feel like you’re sinking, it’s important to learn how to deal with obstacles in life. These abilities can be developed.

People who understand their role in creating happiness and find confident solutions to problems find it easier to cope with difficulties, even when they don’t know what to do.

Let’s now discuss some actionable steps about how to overcome big obstacles to success.

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Here Are Some Tips About Facing Obstacles and How You Can Make This Process Easier

1. Try to Get Rid of Excessive Thinking

Overthinking can stop us from being happy. It usually shows up in five ways:

  1. Comparing yourself to others, which creates false expectations.
  2. Imagining things that aren’t real or likely.
  3. Dwelling on past memories and feeling guilty about them.
  4. Commenting on everything around you, which just tires you out.
  5. Thinking the same things over and over again, creating beliefs that don’t match reality.

You may not realize how much mental activity wears you down. It’s automatic and can trick you into thinking everything you’re thinking is true. However, not everything your mind tells you is correct. For example:

Will your life fall apart if you don’t keep worrying about something for the next hour? Most likely not. You can still get things done without worrying constantly.

Do you remember what you were thinking about on May 24, 2020? Probably not. At the time, you may have thought it was crucial, but it didn’t matter in the long run.

2. Pay Close Attention to Your Inner Monologue

If you’re wondering how to handle life’s challenges or negative feelings, the most important thing is to listen to what you’re telling yourself. What you say to yourself shapes how you see the world.

Learn to trust your inner voice, which guides you toward what’s best for you. Your body tells the truth, so pay attention to its signals and follow them.

a happy woman

3. Change Your Perspective on Emotions

Emotions are the soul’s way of letting you know what’s happening in your life. You have the power to decide how you view these emotions—whether as problems or as meaningful experiences that help you grow.

The first step is to find healthy ways to express your feelings without harming yourself or others. If you feel the urge to cry, allow yourself to cry. Life can be tough, and crying can help you deal with difficult emotions.

Also, treat yourself with the same kindness you would give to others. If your child or loved one were going through the same situation, what advice would you offer them? Treat yourself with that same care and understanding.

You might also like: Here Are 36 Useful Habits to Improve Your Mental Health

4. There Are Three Types of Behavior in a State of Stress That, in Such Situations, Help to Concentrate Energy for Coping and Better Adaptation:

  1. Denying what happened and avoiding distressing thoughts and emotions.
  2. Adapting and changing your perspective on the situation.
  3. Seeking a solution and making efforts to change the situation.

Should you try to avoid what’s happening, adapt to the situation, or solve the problem?

Denial is an unconscious defense mechanism that helps protect the mind from overwhelming stress. Initially, it may seem as though the issue is forgotten or dismissed.

This can be a necessary step in processing a difficult situation, giving you time to gather emotional strength. While this behavior can provide temporary relief, it is not a long-term solution.

The key is to gradually accept the situation and use that time to gather inner strength to adapt or solve the problem. If you’re still feeling tolerable, the denial phase can serve as a stepping stone toward better coping.

Adapting to a stressful situation means adjusting your attitude to make the experience more bearable. This doesn’t necessarily solve the problem, but it helps you manage the emotional burden.

Comparing your situation to others: This is a temporary coping mechanism to help you gain perspective, such as thinking, “My situation could be worse.”

Talking it out: Expressing your feelings with someone you trust can help clarify your emotions, making them more manageable.

Reframing negative thoughts: Transform your critical thoughts into constructive ones. For example, instead of thinking “This is terrible,” reframe it to “This is temporary, and I’ll grow stronger from it.”

Humor and positive thinking: Approaching stressful situations with humor or finding the silver lining can prevent emotional “overheating” and reduce the stress impact.

a happy woman

The third behavior is actively seeking solutions. This involves defining the problem clearly and finding practical ways to address it.

Define the problem specifically: Instead of saying “I’m stressed because my friends don’t listen,” break it down into specifics like, “When my friend Lisa talks about her marriage issues non-stop, I feel unheard.”

This helps you see the situation more objectively and avoid generalized thinking.

Evaluate your feelings and reactions: Think about how you normally behave in these situations and what you’re afraid of losing.

Are you scared of confrontation? Do you worry about damaging relationships? Understanding this can help you decide the best course of action.

Change your behavior: After identifying the problem, brainstorm how you’d like to respond differently. For example, instead of silently listening, you might decide to ask Lisa to listen to your problems too.

Practical Steps to Solve Problems:

  1. Identify Your Goals: What do you want to achieve from addressing this situation? For example, “I want Lisa to listen to me more.”
  2. Explore Possible Solutions: Think of all possible ways you could change the situation—perhaps by setting boundaries or encouraging mutual listening.
  3. Evaluate the Solutions: Assess the pros and cons of each potential solution and pick the best one.
  4. Create an Action Plan: Break down the solution into steps and implement them.
  5. Take Action: If you’re struggling to cope alone, seek external help, whether from a counselor, a trusted friend, or through self-help resources. Reward yourself when progress is made.

Example in Practice:

The Problem: “My friend Lisa constantly talks about her marriage issues when we meet, and I feel drained.”

Action Plan: “Before we meet, I’ll mentally prepare myself to communicate this request calmly. After listening to her, I’ll say, ‘I value our friendship, and I need to share some thoughts with you.'”

Goal: “I want Lisa to listen to me and offer advice.”

Solution: “Next time we meet, I’ll let her speak first, then politely ask if she can listen to my concerns for a moment.”

a happy woman

5. Establish Specific Goals

What you want to achieve must be realized in your vision. A person with utopian and hazy goals wanders aimlessly through life, much like a soccer player who rushes after the ball but has no goals on the field of play. I’ll give you an example.

General new goal: I want my friend’s attitude to improve.

Exact goal: At the next meeting, I will request that my friend listen to me for at least three minutes without interrupting.

6. Maintain a Positive Attitude

It’s clear that a healthy dose of optimism is required to be happy.

The important part to remember is that resilient people don’t let negativity bring them down and remain positive even in stressful situations.

This doesn’t imply that they’re unable to accept the situation or that they’re self-centered; they, too, experience pain, suffering, and low self-esteem.

They allow themselves to feel positive emotions such as gratitude, love, and joy in addition to negative ones.

You might also like: 18 Simple Ways to Show Up for Yourself Every Day

7. Display the Outcome to Yourself and Others

To learn to overcome any obstacle, try to analyze what you have done in terms of a measurable and visible result so that you can measure how far you have progressed toward your primary goal.

So, when you think, “I am more confident in myself,” the visible result could be that you’ve used 50% fewer expressions this week that start with the words “I’m really not sure if I’m right, but…” as you did last week.

a happy woman

8. My Favorite Thought Is That This, Too, Shall Pass

Those four words don’t always appear to be making a difference, but they clearly do in their own way.

It reminds us that the future will be brighter. And the fact that difficult situations never last, but patient people always do.

9. Know That Unhappiness Appears to Be a Measure of How Much We Want Our Dreams

The universe sends disappointing and unpleasant life experiences to measure our commitment to the most beautiful goals and the most euphoric ideals for hopeful, exceptional, and opportunistic people like you and me.

So, I ask myself every single day: “How will you deal with life’s obstacles or negative feelings?” The answer is the following.

When fate throws a curveball my way, I’m now much better able to remember that a problem only becomes a problem if I see it as such.

So I take a deep breath, roll up my sleeves, and demonstrate my seriousness toward the situation.

10. Another Good Belief Is That Every Seemingly Dire Situation Always Turns Out Well

This principle was written down by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer when he proposed that life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.

Only by looking back on our lives can we connect the dots and understand how everything happened for our greatest happiness. For our best possible personal growth.

What we thought was a burden in the midst of adversity becomes a blessing as time passes. It significantly improves our lives. Please keep that thought in mind.

11. Know That It’s Not a Problem if It Helps You Grow; It’s a Reward

One of the primary goals of being in the school of life is to use every situation to transform weakness into wisdom, fear into faith, and the pain you carry with you into invincible strength.

Sure, you can’t avoid obstacles all the time, but everything that the ego labels as an “obstacle” or a “problem” is in your life for definite positive and extremely beneficial reasons.

You simply can’t see positive results yet. Because you aren’t required to see them yet. You must fully experience what you’re going through.

Then unending blessings will pour into your days. “What does not kill us makes us stronger,” Nietzsche wrote. He was correct.

You might also like: Learn How to Do a Full Life Reset This Year
a happy woman

12. Opportunities Abound in Chaos

When things get tough, I recommend that you become an opportunity seeker by default.

The first thing to do is to ask yourself how you can use a setback to reveal the pinnacle of your abilities and turn adversity into victory, and how you can turn apparent failure into an even better life than you’ve had so far.

This is how warriors and heavyweights behave.

You might also like: Here Are Some Useful Steps I Follow to Create My Dream Life

13. Ask for Help

Resilient people recognize that they aren’t alone. If necessary, they seek professional help from the appropriate people.

In the event of certain problems, they rely on experts and visit specialists. Family and friends can provide comfort as well.

14. Learn From Your Mistakes

Resilient people view failure as a valuable learning experience. They don’t wallow in despair or have an overly strong emotional reaction.

Obstacles in life are a normal part of life that must be dealt with as they arise. Despite their mistakes, they keep going and dare to take risks in order to achieve something extraordinary.

15. Difficult Times Breed Heroes

Heroes are created by turbulent times, not by stable periods. Mandela became Mandela while imprisoned on Robben Island. When she stood up to mistreatment, Rosa Parks became a legend.

What tries to break you also provides you with life-changing opportunities and good things to help you discover your hidden strengths and develop skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.

16. How to Deal With Obstacles in Life by Dealing With Your Negative Emotions More Effectively?

Self-care is an extremely important and necessary skill in these stressful times. Addressing your feelings is part of self-care.

All kinds of feelings arise in the current situation, and if we don’t deal with them or turn to them, we may begin to behave in ways that harm us.

How will you deal with life’s obstacles or negative feelings?

Some of us start eating more, drinking more, shopping online, or taking medications to numb painful feelings.

There is, however, a better way to deal with your feelings, and that better way involves confronting your feelings, accepting them, and harnessing them for your own benefit.

However, if we continue to numb our feelings without harnessing their potential and learning from them, it has a negative effect on us.

We will neglect our own mental and physical health and succumb to self-destructive tendencies.

In reality, every emotion is significant because it tells us whether we’re satisfied or dissatisfied.

Dissatisfaction tells us that something in our lives isn’t quite right or that we’ve been thinking negative things about ourselves or a situation.

a happy woman

17. Listen to Your Feelings and Be Conscious of What You Need

Ask your inner child, “What are you feeling right now?” Describe the feeling. “I’m angry,” for example.

Tell yourself, “I see that you’re angry.” Then ask yourself, “What do you need?” Specify what you need. “I need my friend to be honest with me,” for example.

Tell yourself, “I understand that you need your friend to be honest with you.” Take care of yourself and tell your friend what you need to feel good about the friendship or to keep it going.

In this case, the emotion arose as a result of a real situation and necessitated action on our part, namely, establishing our own boundary in the relationship.

Usually, if we become aware of the reason for the feeling, we can act on it and change our state.

Feelings typically manifest as a result of either immediate situations or our own thoughts.

A feeling can also arise as a result of our own thoughts, in which case we must determine which thought is causing the manifestation of the feeling and which other thought would be more self-supporting and produce a better feeling.

18. Discover the Thoughts Behind the Emotion

For example, if you’re anxious and afraid, investigate your thoughts.

Anxiety and fear typically arise as a result of real danger or, if no real danger exists, as a result of our own negative thoughts.

We either imagine a negative future, have negative thoughts about ourselves, or internalize a negative belief.

If we can become aware of what causes us to be afraid, we can change our thoughts, images, and inputs, assuring ourselves of a more positive future.

If you recognize that you are experiencing fear or anxiety, ask yourself, “Is my life really in danger now?”

If you answered “no,” then ask yourself, “What am I thinking, imagining, or internalizing that causes me fear and anxiety?”

“I believe I will be unable to cope and will lose my job,” for example. Then ask yourself, “Is it true that I won’t be able to make it and will lose my job?”

The truth is that you don’t really know, and your negative assumption is all you have. Then ask yourself, “What other thought, other than this negative thought, could I have that would support me and instill confidence and peace?”

“I’m considering starting a side hustle if necessary to better deal with the financial situation. I can envision a bright future in which I am self-assured, efficient, and intelligent, living peacefully without having to worry about money.”

It’s critical to identify a negative thought, image, or assumption and replace it with a more self-supporting and confidence-inspiring thought, image, or assumption. A positive outlook is the key to living a happy life.

You might also like: Healthy Mindset Habits You Should Consider for Improved Health
a happy woman

19. Self-Care at the Thought and Feeling Level

Turn to your feelings and allow yourself to feel them all the way through, including so-called negative or difficult feelings like fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, regret, and grief.

All feelings—both those that bring us joy and those that cause us pain and difficulty—are part of the human experience. There’s a strong link between all of these feelings.

While facing obstacles, no painful emotion should be denied or ignored. Instead, focus on your emotions and try to put them into words.

You can do some expressive writing if that helps you. You don’t need much time for that; even a few minutes will suffice.

The intensity of the feeling will fade once you have named it and allowed yourself to feel it without resistance, and you will be able to begin to see the thoughts behind the feeling or accept a healthy response to what’s happening.

It’s natural to feel angry and resentful when someone has cruelly crossed our personal boundaries. Ignorance and uncertainty breed fear and anxiety, which is perfectly normal.

It’s healthier to feel all of your difficult emotions rather than try to avoid some of the more difficult ones you haven’t yet learned to face.

Being constantly positive and in a good mood is exhausting and requires a lot of energy if negative feelings are not accepted.

As human beings, we have come to experience various emotions, and each emotion serves a specific purpose in our lives: fear warns us of impending dangers, anger expresses that something is inappropriate for us, sadness indicates that we have lost something important, and so on.

20. Keep Pushing

According to research, successful people are those who have learned how to solve problems effectively.

To cope well with feelings of stress, traumatic events, and past experiences, you must have self-belief—the belief that everything is under your control and that you will find a solution to the problem.

Part of this skill involves perseverance.

People who believe in themselves don’t give up easily and continue to try new solutions until they find one. It becomes a reality because you believe you can do it.

a happy woman

21. Self-Care on the Physical Level

We can’t overcome our physicality because our physical body and the processes that occur there influence our thoughts, actions, and behaviors, as well as how we cope with chronic stress and tension.

During tough times, it’s especially beneficial to increase self-care, i.e., eat a healthy diet, move daily in the fresh air, and increase the amount of hormones in your body that help you feel better and increase your ability to cope with high stress levels and think more positively.

Oxytocin, also known as the hormone of love, hugs, and bonding, is one such hormone. The body produces this hormone primarily after caressing, feeling, and expressing love and hugging.

The lower your oxytocin level, the easier it is to become irritable, angry, or moody, and the more difficult it is to think positively.

Let’s have a look at how anyone can use simple tricks to boost oxytocin production in the current situation:

  1. Give yourself a manicure, pedicure, massage, or other forms of body care. Even massaging your head causes the body to produce oxytocin.
  2. Stroking a pet, a child, or even a loved one is another effective way to stimulate the production of oxytocin in the body.
  3. Watch an emotionally charged film.
  4. Sing loudly for at least 10 minutes.
  5. Do some deep breathing exercises.
  6. Dance to your favorite music.
  7. Plan a walk with a friend.
  8. Say “I love you”… to a friend, a child, a pet, or your parents.
  9. Communicate with people you like and have a strong emotional connection with, either through social media or in person.
  10. Discuss your concerns with a friend or a therapist; a shared concern is half a concern.
  11. Move your body by going for a walk, dancing, or engaging in some other form of physical activity.

How do you overcome obstacles with the help of that tip? Take up and engage in the activities presented here consciously—that is, enjoy each activity while remaining fully present with it.

To achieve maximum results and quickly and effectively increase your oxytocin levels, be attentive and use all of your senses (smell, touch, sight, and hearing).

The higher your oxytocin level, the better you cope with stressful situations and the more clearly and positively you can think, act, and feel.

So, the best way to deal with difficult situations and stressful life circumstances is to increase self-care and contact with yourself.

You might also like: Use These Ideas to Have the Best Self-Care Day Ever
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a pin for a blog post that talks about how to deal with obstacles in life

How Will You Deal With Life’s Obstacles or Negative Feelings?

Problems and difficulties are a natural part of life. Many studies show that people who see problems and difficulties as opportunities to change, experience the unknown, and learn something new get sick less frequently, are happier in their lives, and achieve more.

The person who is happy is not the one who has no problems, but the one who knows how to deal with these problems.

Nobody is immune to mishaps, temporary setbacks, or unexpected difficulties in life.

How do you deal with problems? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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