Reframing challenges
CHALLENGES in life are inevitable. Everyone goes through challenging periods in life. We all have problems, and we are often tested by circumstances outside of our control. And often times most of us get really afraid and run away from problems because we don’t want to accept reality the way it is. We are masters of avoidance!
Running away from our problems is the worst thing we can do to deal with the challenges we are faced with. We must accept the fact that these obstacles are reality and this reality create who we really are. When we are guided by the reality principle, we develop a deeper capacity to deal with life more effectively.
Truth is, with the right mental attitude we can completely reframe the way we experience challenges. Too often we view challenges as irritating annoyance, when in fact it may hold a great opportunity to learn and grow. Everything changes when we learn to see life’s challenges in a whole new light. What if we could learn to see them as highly beneficial experiences, adventures in learning, or even as a blessing in disguise? Wouldn’t that be a welcome shift in perception?
If we start by asking ourselves, “what can I learn from this experience?” it immediately puts a more positive spin on the situation. It allows us to discover something worth appreciating about our experience. It makes it possible to recognize true value that might have gone unnoticed, and to see opportunity and possibility instead of inconvenience and annoyance.
With the right perception we can come to view challenges as some of our most valuable life experiences. Life becomes more manageable if we learn to embrace and trust that all a challenge is a learning opportunity. If we grasp its lesson, we can focus on the positive side of what has happened. This doesn’t mean to numb yourself or negate the reality of the situation; it means feeling and processing all those intense emotions, then choosing to focus on the bright side.
Life gives us lessons that may be hard to bear, but we gain our greatest wisdom going through them instead of becoming stuck and defined by them. So it would be wise to switch your attitude to one of hope instead of despair. Succumbing to negative emotional states creates nothing but more negative reactions, such as jealousy, hatred, blame, fear, and depression. That helps neither us, the situation, nor the people around us.
By Pilita b. sabit