When things get HARD!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re following your passion or just working for the paycheck, there are always going to be times when work and life gets HARD!

This is normal. This is ok. This is nothing to panic about.

I find it quite frustrating when I see advice along the lines of “If you’re not enjoying it, do something different, follow your dreams!”. That’s all well and good, but at some point even in your wildest dreams life is going to get HARD.

Going through HARD is what makes your grow.

Embracing and accepting the difficulties is what gets you where you need to be.

Fronting up to your own fears and vulnerabilities and working through them is the key to the joy at the other side.

Everyone is going through this all the time, there’s nothing wrong with it, or with you.

But can’t I just do something else instead?

It is tempting to come up with hundreds of other options to distract you from your path, convincing yourself that something else will make you happy, but there’s a few home truths I’d like to warn you about:

• The other options you’re considering are also going to get HARD at some point
• The other options will probably take longer to get you where you want to be
• The other options will also give you satisfaction and struggle in equal measure

If you accept this and fully embrace it, then please go ahead, take one of the other options, but don’t kid yourself it will be rainbows and daisies, it will just be a different flavour of life’s difficulties.

So how do you get through the HARD when it does happen?

The upside of all of this is that you do not need to worry if things get hard, you do not need to panic and turn your whole life upside down, you don’t need to spend hours wondering if you’re on the right path…

So what should you do instead?

• Accept that things are hard right now and that’s ok. It’s normal.
• Decide that you want to get through the hard and out the other side, even if it is uncomfortable. Embrace the possibility of negative feelings and know they can’t harm you. You’ve got this.
• Focus on the end goal and get excited about it again. Forget about the ‘how’ for a few minutes, and remember the ‘what’ and ‘why’
• Ask yourself some good questions ‘what would I like to have happen?’, ‘What needs to happen next?’, ‘what can I do today that gives a better chance of that happening?’
• Focus on what you can control – these are usually your thoughts, feelings and actions. You can’t control other people, however much you want to, so let that go.
• Ask yourself what advice you would give your best friend in the same situation – seeing things from a different perspective can help you to see beyond the confusion
• Get some exercise – release those endorphins and force your brain to focus on something else – give it some relief! It will thank you for it.
• Get a good coach to help you with all of the above!