How to survive during tough times.

Life stinks. This isn’t a misleading article, but part of seeing the light is becoming adjusted to the darkness. Realizing that bad things happen that will be completely out of your control is a bittersweet reality. The only thing you can control is how you respond and recover from it.

Now, I could sit here and write about all the bad things that I’ve gone through and how I saw the silver lining, but that would truly be depressing.

Instead, I’ll share some tips on how to deal with the inevitable negative feelings.

The first step is to address how you’re feeling whether it be sad, angry, or just annoyed. Remember that feelings are not a bad thing, but a part of human nature.

Next, identify what led up to it and if you played a role in it. Take accountability for your own actions and try to communicate how you feel to who made you feel that way. If you neglect to let someone know the hurt they caused you, it will only continue.

However, not every situation has a person at fault, which makes this next step much harder.

Moving on to step two, express all those feelings in any way you deem necessary. I’d suggest something creative like drawing, painting, poetry, writing, or dancing. However, sometimes these activities don’t get the job done. So, you may have to resort to some of my favorite methods such as screaming, shouting, or punching the air.

Do avoid anything that can bring harm to you or anyone around you. Doesn’t it feel great to just scream and let it out occasionally?

No, these are not long-term fixes, but they will give you some short term satisfaction to get it out, safely of course.

Last step, and my least personal favorite: toughening it out. Some days you won’t feel like getting out of bed or going to school, and the coffee doesn’t even help. When you don’t have any crutch to lean on you need to have some S-tier willpower.

A way to stay focused is setting goals; whether it be sports related, academic, or something more personal, you need to have direction.  When you wake up with a sense of purpose, I promise it makes the days go by just a little easier.

For some of us this isn’t even as bad as it gets. We still have some adulting to do.

These steps are interchangeable and are a little less like steps and more like tips to use when you need them.