by Lee VanAmee

Created on: July 30, 2010

It gets difficult to cope with some of our trials in times of emotional upheaval; but we must try to keep some sort of a balance so that we do not lose our bearings. 

As human beings we truly are awesome. When we look back to some of the troubled times we have been through it is intriguing to figure out how we even came through and bounced back to where we are today. Or you may be going through some troubled waters now and need some guidance. I don't think any of us go through this life without any bumps, bruises, or tumbles and it helps to have some strategies to help us cope when we are feeling overwhelmed. 

The one lesson I always revert back to for me first is to give myself a break and remember there are going to be those times in life that all you can handle for awhile is to put one foot in front of the other and then repeat. Try to be kind to yourself as you would to anyone else that asked you advice on how to get through the storms. Once you feel a little stronger you can start to restore some of the balance you need. We all have different time tables; be aware of yours, for yourself, and try to only cope with the bare minimum until you can handle more. Then you can try to move on to some actions that will help you confront the issues that may have brought on the discord. Because when everything we are going through is taking up all of our resources, we have got to rest and recover first so then we will be around to face the challenges ahead. 

Sometimes, the little things seem so daunting! Take the emotion out of the equation and just do the physical task at hand. Example: If you are procrastinating on getting your mail because you don’t want to deal with some overdue bills, or any emotionally charged mail; you need to try to break down each physical task that still has to be done and treat it as a chore unemotional task that you are doing. Like walking to the mailbox and taking out the contents and bringing it home; even if you just set it on your table. Then the next day try another task and maybe only sorting out the junk mail from the important mail and you can set it aside in one pile until the next day. Then maybe sort it out according to importance or company, etc. but you get the picture. Like the saying goes, "How do you eat an elephant, and the answer is, one small bite at a time".  Once you physically walk away from each task, mentally tell yourself, you did what you could today; tomorrow you have a plan to do xyz. That way you are doing some action items, and that slowly will make you feel a little better to have forward movement. 

Stop pretending on all areas of your life: drop the drama. Sometimes we get so good at pretending that we have even convinced ourselves that reality is not really what is before us. The best way to not have this obstacle in our way is to eradicate it from our behavior when we are not stressed out and we are actually feeling balanced and can look our life in the eye and accept what is. It is much easier to catch and replace at these times with some more down to earth, get real living and actions. If we wait until our emotional barometer is crashing; we probably won’t have the energy or the emotional resources to battle the soap opera in our minds. 

Life is a very precious gift; hold on during the hard times and remind yourself, that you are strong and you have been through other difficult situations and you WILL get through the storm again!

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