People face all sorts of difficulties and challenges but how do they keep going and lift themselves up?
You hear of personal tragedies all the time: financial loss, health problems, job losses, businesses in trouble, crime and violence.
For some people it could be the end of the road. They may decide to take their lives. One person took a pistol and blew his brains out when his business collapsed. A woman reduced to living in a caravan park couldn’t see any hope in life and hung herself. A young man with an illness killed himself through alcohol and drugs.
How do you handle setbacks?
Each person has their own way of handling major changes and challenges to their well-being. The motivational gurus and psychologist will have their soothing remedies but it’s up to the individual to cope with the trauma, pain and suffering.
It can take months, if not years, to get back to “normal”, to gain perspective, to put the past behind. All the while you have to keep carrying on from day to day. Finding whatever you can to get through bad days.
The strong ones follow their own path. They resist the temptation of the charlatans who wish to “control their minds”. These are the people with all sorts of nonsense systems who try to suck you in to gain control over you and your bank balance.
Emotional intelligence becomes crucial. Your capacity to endure, to persist, despite difficult circumstances will ultimately triumph over fear, emptiness, loneliness or acting irrationally. It’s easy to say these things in words but a very different situation when you have to carry pain with you day in and day out.
I take my hat off to the young man I know who was unemployed for a year, retrained himself and four years later built his own business. My deepest admiration to the young woman who despite tragic illness got back on her feet and made a new life for herself. My respect and love for the woman who lost her son of 20 years old in a car accident and a brother in war. She put the past behind, was never bitter, but only gave out kindness and love. Thank you to my grandmother who taught me so much.
