Life Coaching Corner: Tips for Overcoming Life's Challenges Life can be difficult. There are those times in your life when many challenges come in your path and can overwhelm you. As I was reflecting over the last several months of my life, I realized that I had allowed a series of challenges that came into my life unexpectedly to derail and discourage me. I admit I did not handle the challenges that came my way properly, instead, I reacted in anger, frustration, and defeat. A challenge can be defined as something difficult to overcome, and if you do not push past the challenge you can remain stuck and defeated. Not everyone faces the same challenges, and people respond differently to challenges. You cannot compare how you may have responded or reacted to a challenge in your life with how someone else responds to similar situations. What are some situations that could be challenging? · Difficult relationships with loved ones · Loss of a significant relationship · Work-related conflicts, job loss, or difficult co-workers/boss · Any type of loss · Health issues · Hormonal imbalances · Toxic people · Unfairness in life · Any type of change Life is unpredictable and unfair at times, but how can you learn to overcome those challenges without remaining in a state of defeat: 1. Face the reality. Don't avoid what is causing you problems. Talk it out, write it out, and then let it go and surrender your situation to God. 2. Embrace your life as it is, not how you fantasize about how you want it to be. I can easily slip into the non-reality that I have a loving, strong, and supportive family and become quite disappointed when they are not those things. This is not to say you don't believe and want better but you are not living in the hopes of people or situations but in Christ alone. 3. Focus on what is right, what is good, and what is praiseworthy in your life and decrease thinking and magnifying the challenges in your life. 4. Speak and declare over your life that you are an overcomer instead of saying or thinking," I'm so defeated or discouraged about…" 5. Distance yourself from the drama. Step back from any chaos in your life to gain a better perspective on your challenge. Act from a place of strength and gain clarity. 6. Learn from your challenges. Your character can be strengthened through the trials in your life. Everyone will have challenges in their lives, I know I have had more than my fair share, but the key to overcoming challenges is to rise above them. Don't allow the challenges in your life to steal your peace and joy, there is a time to mourn but there is a time to rejoice as well. Reflect: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4