Overcoming Life Storms

By:  Kimberly Swanson, M.S.-Psy, CNA

Have you ever experienced any life storms?  Well I have these last couple of weeks and it has been extremely chaotic.  My son was admitted to the hospital.    He almost died this week and I had to do CPR on him until the ambulance arrived.  With all this going on, I was having a difficult time focusing on class and dealing with a difficult professor.  My friend who I thought was my friend turned out to be the enemy.  With all of this drama, I had reevaluated which direction I want to go in my life.

The negativity occurs right when I am about to graduate from graduate school. It seems when you get closer to the finish line and about to win, an obstacles seems to get right in way.  This seems to occur right when you are about to succeed and accomplish a major goal.

The following are some of things you can do to overcome life storms:

·         Try to stay calm

·         Relieve stress

·         Reevaluate  life circumstances

·         And to remain focused

The first tip is to stay calm.  I know that it seems impossible to stay calm when your life seems to be in turmoil.  But just taking the time out to clear your head and take a break can make all of the difference in the world. When you are calm you can accomplish more things.  But when you are stressed and overwhelmed it is so easy to go off on a tangent which can make matters worse.   Remember calmness brings clarity.

Another tip is to relieve your stress.  People have different ways to relieve their stress.  For me I manage my stress through exercise and meditation.  Gardening is another activity that helps me to clear my head.  Being outdoors with nature is also therapeutic.

The next tip is to re-evaluate your life circumstances.   Sometimes you find resistance when you need to make some life adjustments.  I realized that I had to make some changes in my classes in order for things to flow.

And the last tip is to remain focused.  In order to remain focused you must look at the bigger picture. When you focus too much on the problem, you can cause yourself to feel overwhelm and want to give up.  You have to remind yourself what is at stake if your give up and what you stand to gain when you hang in there. 

Going through life storms is never fun.  Believe me I am going through one right now and I am not enjoying it one bit.  But even though it seems like the storm will never come to an end.  The sunshine will eventually shine and great things will come your way.  Sometimes these storms may take your off course while other times it may lead you towards another direction that you may felt was impossible.  But overcoming life’s turbulent times it what makes you much better person and stronger.  No matter what storm you may be going through, you can overcome them; rather it means losing a love one, losing a job or your finances are not where you want them to be you can move forward and can still prevail.