5 Tips: How to Get Through a Challenging Time

We’ve all been there – a tough week, a terrible experience, a challenging time. During those moments, when the waves of grief, loss and overwhelm strike, it’s important to recognize what you are going through so that you can move through it with grace, love and dignity.

For me, going through this phase in my life, where the kids are moving onto adulthood and are no longer home, has been extremely difficult for me. Not that I’m not able to cope but the waves of missing them, of not seeing them, hearing them, being with them, has been challenging at times.

Recently, I shared my experience with the women of Women Living Fully and I’m certainly not alone. Many of you are going through your own challenging times with aging parents, loss of loved ones, separation or divorce, moving from one home to another, mid-life challenges, etc.. As we age, challenging times become something that occur more frequently. So what do you do to move through those periods when it is all so heavy?

Here is a video that I recorded for the Women Living Fully group, that highlight 5 things that you can do to move through a challenging time.

1. Shut off social media: The moment you turn on social media and you begin to scroll, you are investing your time and precious energy in someone else’s life. Sometimes, it comes at the cost of dragging you down, taking away your energy, and making you feel worse. Rather than getting immersed in what could potentially hurt you more than it can help you, avoid social media all together.

2. Break up your routine: When you do the same thing over and over again, and it becomes routine, you begin to feel the same things over and over again. Instead, break the pattern, break the routine. Do something else. Shake things up. Get out of the house. Play music. Go dancing. Go to the movies. Don’t continue to do what you always do. Change the routine to change how you feel.

3. Do something with gratitude and that brings you joy: Doing things that brings you joy reduces your stress and provides you with an outlet for your grief and sadness. When Tony Robbins says, “You can’t be sad and grateful at the same time”, by doing something with joy, and in gratitude, your sadness takes a back seat, or dissipates entirely.

 4. Be honest with those closest to you: Be honest and open. Let those closest to you know how you are feeling. This will allow you to truly be in the feelings you are experiencing without having to hide them and suppress them. Those who love you will be there for you. Let them know how you are feeling, AND let yourself be loved and comforted.

5. Self-care! Self-care! Self-care! This cannot be stated enough. In challenging times, it’s even more important to take care of you! Putting you at the top of priorities list and doing things that nourish you – body, mind and soul – are so very important. One of the reasons I host InPower Retreats is because we need to get away. We need to break up the routine. We need to do something that brings us joy. We need to be with others who understand. We need to take care of our selves. The retreats provide a safe, fun and rejuvenating environment to move through so much of what we are all going through. And boy, it’s fun to be with others who like to be curious, playful and explore what is possible.

In addition, I invited the women of Women Living Fully to share what they do to move through their challenging times, and here are some additional things to add to the above list:

Journaling
Long walks
Reaching out to a friend
Crying
Praying
Ho’oponopono: “I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you.”
Painting
Writing
Exercising
Playing a game
Watching funny movies
Dancing
Music
Singing
Playing an instrument