Seasons of Difficulty

Can you feel a season?

There’s no hiding that I love fall. One of the reasons I left southern California for the midwest in my twenties was to experience the changing seasons, and the fall colors just light me up! Just like in nature, we experience different seasons in our lives. Seasons when everything is going well and seasons of difficulty. They’re not always as predictable as the leaves changing or the days getting longer, but they bring a shift in how we feel and think, and if we’re not intentional, a difficult season can turn into an ice age – or at least it can feel that way.

Changing seasons

How one perceives a season of difficultly is relative to each individual but common examples are the period after the end of a relationship, a personal or family illness or passing of a loved one, a financial challenge, or your kids leaving home.

Various challenges enter our lives and our mindset and response to those challenges are critical to moving through them. We can often get stuck in a spiral, frozen in that season, which is the last thing most people want! Following are four tips to help you experience and learn from the season and then move on.

Give yourself some grace

Allow yourself to be slowed down by the difficulties and be okay experiencing it. Being frustrated by not having everything figured out when it’s already hard can make the situation more difficult. Give yourself empathy by acknowledging what you are going through is a legitimate hurdle. This short video on Emotional Courage can provide some more insight on why this is helpful.

Consciously prioritize wellness habits

Prioritize stress management, breathe, get adequate sleep, get out of the house, exercise and eat well. When you’re already struggling, ignoring the things that are proven to make you feel better can make the situation worse. Embracing the things you can control will give you more confidence to handle the things you may not be able to.

Solicit social support

Reach out to friends and family more often and ask to for help. Don’t box yourself into loneliness because you’re embarrassed, afraid to be seen as weak or don’t want to bother people. We are social creatures and here to support one another. No one gets ahead faster alone.

Keep the vision alive

Even though the future or the other side of this challenge feels like it’s far away, hold onto it. Create a vision in your mind and reflect on it daily. See it, feel it and live it in your mind. Your brain can’t tell the difference between what’s reality and what isn’t. By holding a vision, it will start to believe that your vision is your current situation.

Be the change

We all have seasons of difficulty. And we can’t always control how long they will last. But you can control your outlook, which impacts how you feel, which determines your actions, which ultimately drives outcome. So instead of waiting for the season to change, be intentional and change it yourself. If you’re not sure how, I might be able to help. Book your free Discovery call here.

Struggling with the worry of change? Read some ways you can reduce your worry here.