Change your attitude and life gets better
Many of us are stressed out with everything that is going on in the outside world, not to mention what is going on inside our homes and our businesses. It is tough to find external support from our friends and family when it seems they are feeling as overwhelmed, stuck or frustrated as we are! How do we get support and encouragement when we are struggling if the people around us can't give it to us? We have to shift our mindset and face the fact that we must find a way to help ourselves. Certainly, there are things we cannot change in our lives, yet we often think more stuff is outside of our control than it really is. When we believe we cannot impact or make a change to get out of a frustrating situation, we feel helpless. When we feel helpless we start to believe a false reality: we can't do anything about it, so we might as well not try. We can control not only how we view our circumstances (happy/sad/temporary/permanent), we actually do get to choose how we spend our time, our energy and our money most of the time, whether we want to admit it our not.
Whether life is currently beating us up or handing us roses, we get to decide how to view our circumstances. Do we wake up and assign our situation as "bad" or "good" , temporary or permanent, sustainable or unsustainable, fixable or unfixable, etc. If we make up our minds that our current circumstance is temporary and tolerable, we can get through it. If we set our minds to believe our situation is "bad", permanent and not able to be changed or fixed, it leads to feeling helpless and depressed about not being able to (or not being given the chance to) get out of it.
No one is expecting you to transform yourself into the eternal optimist. One step at a time. When you feel stuck or frustrated, try thinking about just one single task you can perform that makes you feel more in control of your situation. Think about what you like about your day, your relationships or your physical surroundings. Think about what you can do to make it easier for you to have more of those positive relationships, peaceful surroundings and enjoyable moments in your day. Take it one day at a time, one situation at a time. Sometimes it feels like we are all alone in our struggles yet we are not. Knowing you are not alone in dealing with this can sometimes lessen the emotional burden you are carrying. You can get through this. You are stronger than you think and you have more control over what you can do. I promise.
If you want to read more about the current societal temperament of stress, Timothy Eagan writes, "In the winter of the American soul, people thronged to hear advice on how to “live a life of significance and impact” and to “find meaning in times of change, challenge and chaos.” in his Op Ed piece for The New York Times referring to NPR article Feeling Way More Stressed Out? You're Not Alone.
Make it a great day!