Hi everyone,
I hope everyone is having a good beginning of 2021. Today’s topic is challenges. Rather, how we behave when we face challenges.
Life comes with some bumps on the road. It is not ideal to expect to have a life in which everything goes as we plan. The first step in dealing with challenges is to accept that there are challenges. To accept that some things will be difficult for us. We cannot act strong at all times, because in truth, we cannot be.
The second step is to decide whether the challenge is worth facing. There is no point in dealing with difficulties that do not contribute to us. For example, we don’t have to do the extra work in the office to prove that we are good employees. We can use the time spent for this unnecessary challenge for something better. For example, we can spend more time with our families or take up a hobby that we actually enjoy. Mind you, we can do extra work if it is absolutely necessary or it benefits in some way. But just not to ‘prove’ something.
Once we decide something is a challenge worth pursuing, then the next step is to decide how we can go about it. Here, small steps are vital. Thinking about finishing the whole project may be daunting. But breaking it into small steps is not. It is much less scary that way. Instead of thinking about writing a book as a whole and therefore being deferred by it, we can focus on a small part of the whole plot and start writing that. I fall into this trap every now and then.
An alternative behavior I have seen when people decide that something is a challenge is avoidance. Behaving that the challenge does not exist. I am not like this, so I don’t know how this feels. I can see how it can be attractive, though. I would appreciate if you could share your experiences if you tend to have this approach.
Then, with each small step we accomplish, we feel more fulfilled and move towards the challenge in a more determined way.
Sounds simple, right? Spoiler alert: It is not.
How do you deal with challenges? What are some challenges you find hard to deal with? Let’s talk about challenges this week.
Reblogged this on To Write or not to Write and What to Write.
First step to dealing with challenges is to accept that there are challenges….. Beautiful 🙌🏻👍🏻
I love this blog so much I really wanna write for pointless overthinking
Hi Sanisa! Do you want to contact Troy or Ellen to see if you can write here?
Sureeeee
Thanks a ton Betul!!!
Ahh where to start on what challenges!! 😅 but sometimes I avoid the challenge like you were talking about because I get scared or overwhelmed because I dont know how to start tackling it in the first place..for example if I’m scared of performimg well in a project, whether personal or professional, then I leave it till the last minute until I have no choice, then somehow my brain becomes clearer and I manage to work on it somehow! Ofcourse there are more complicated challenges too that we deal with, in a fussy, overreacting way sometimes!😭
The last minute strategy seems to work for some people. Maybe for you too. Definitely not for me. I would get stuck if I did that. I have other struggles though:(
Yeah the last minute thing is effective but definitely not an ideal approach.. So I’m glad that’s not u! And ofcourse other struggles I can imagine..I hope you figure out a way to overcome them as well!!! 🙂 🙂
That image of the stairs is perfect. It really is about taking things one step at a time.
That is how I prefer to imagine it!
Uhh… Lay down and die, I guess?
Not if you don’t do it for your whole life. We need that too.
A beautifully written article. Thanks for sharing.
My way of dealing with a challenge is to believe that every challenge will bring a new perspective to my life. This shifts my focus to the process rather than its outcomes. The more I challenge myself, the more wisdom I grasp. Facing a challenge gives a way for one’s manner of thinking to grow and stretch I think.
That is a great way of looking at it and you described it perfectly! Yes, unless we get out of our comfort zone, we cannot learn and grow.
Mostly, the hard way.
Avoiding tends to prolong the agony but rushing in blindly tends to make a mess.
The good thing is each challenge dealt with tends to give new strengths
I agree to all points. The trick is to learn to progress smart.
You got me thinking.
You didn’t touch on challenges that we have no choice but to face whether we want to or not. True, most challenges in our current era are ones we can choose to leave by the wayside. However, I do think this era is on its way out and we will have to face challenges we’d rather leave in a ditch somewhere along our road of life.
That is a good point! Yes, there are also those challenges. I think they can be a full blog post on their own because they require a lot of discussion of accepting.
#2 point was my big trap. Had no personal life for years. Finally learned my lesson after realizing how little creative projects I’d been able to accomplish due to exhaustion—and the silent anger at being taken advantage of.
We make the mistakes and then grow. Then we can thank our mistakes for being good teachers:)
Sometimes I feel like life is a series of challenges interrupted by occasional moments of peace. 🕊
That is a very nice way of putting it! Exactly that!
Much the way I feel. What a pity I have never been able to reverse that!
Should we?
Alas, we can continue to try. 🕊
Thank you for your encouraging and inspirational words!
Thank you for visiting!
I am in the habit of putting things off I’m scared of doing. The current challenge is promoting my wedding! Bite size pieces is the key 😊
First of all, congratulations! But yeah, bits of it is the key!
Thank you!
Just realised I said promoting instead of planning 🙄
Yeah, but I got you:)
😄
Thank you for the insightful post, earlier my mindset was to fight with challenges and wait for finishing it then turn to next task. But now i have made myself so trained to fight with challenges along with completing my tasks.
Aspiringblog
That is a good change! It will show its benefits soon!
Hope so
A great article. I can really relate. I sometimes find that I just avoid dealing with a challenge if I don’t know how to go about resolving it but your suggestion to take it in small steps is a brilliant one which I will do well to remember.
I also had problems with challenges until I started applying the small steps strategy. I am still working on it, but it seems to be a better way
Challenges are the ones that keep us moving. The joy of life is to keep on fighting with our nighmares for our dreams….
Well-said!
My mother always says “One bite of the elephant at a time”. Now, I’m not advocating eating an elephant, and neither is my mother, but looking at the size of an elephant in terms of the whole problem.
And what is a novel but lots of little stories—which seem more manageable—joined together to form one larger one? This was how I tricked myself into writing a book, and now I have an entire manuscript I am editing! Crazy!
Yay! That is awesome! Yes, one step at a time! That is very important!
Biggest challenge these days is sleep, and in that regard being selfish and unapologetic about what I need to do (Sleep in another room outside of my room with my partner), is helping at the moment haha.
I feel you! Whatever helps:)