Stress Relief: Finding Hope in Uncertain Times

Finding hope during uncertain times is rather difficult, especially when most people rely on strategies that tend to be self-defeating.  People often resort to feeling, worried, anxious, and complain or become negative about events that may not even occur. With this kind of behavior stress is inevitable. Yet, some people find hope in uncertain times and rise to meet it with resilience.  You too can develop this inner power, and achieve success, calmness and obtain stress relief.

What is the Meaning of Hope?

You may be faced daily with difficulties, but you can begin to find ways to cope with your daily stress. So how do you get there?  First let’s understand, what having hope means.

Think of how you handle difficult situations. Do you often say things like, “I hope everything will work out”? Unfortunately, this is just a way of disengaging and not really dealing with the difficult situations.

True hope comes from a source much deeper within you. It is found within your inner core.  To understand this concept, you need to understand that there are three vital qualities that determine how much hope you yourself feel.  It will also decide what you can offer to others and progress in your life. Hope is an essential component in facing any type of uncertainty, in our personal or business affairs.

What are the 3 Primary Qualities of Hope?

1. Resilience – When faced with setbacks and obstacles you bounce back.
2. Strength – You use your inner strength to boost your personal power.
3. Optimism –Despite the challenges ahead of you stay positive.

The above qualities will help prevent becoming a pessimistic and rather than being a fatalistic, you can be strong, resilient, and optimistic, and improve your self-esteem.

Hope is vital for handling a crisis, and relieving stress, but it can also serve as your core value daily. Uncertainty can arrive at any point in time, whether it appears in a personal issue, a business issue, a national event, or a global event. The situation doesn’t even necessarily need to be negative. For example, uncertainty and excitement can occur when you are starting your own business.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the primary qualities of hope that were mentioned above.

What Does it Mean to Have Resilience?

In the media we often hear stories about the elderly celebrating their 100th birthdays.  We are quick to ask what the secret for their longevity is, and they are happy to share their secrets.  Yet, the truth is that they went through many adversities in their life, and through it all they remained resilient.

They faced hard times and bounced back, shook defeat off at every turn. Being resilient is the true secret to avoiding victimhood, and to living a long and healthy life.

In addition, when you’re faced with sadness, it’s healthy to deal with sadness; especially when you lose a loved one.  Grief is natural and resilience is what pushes you forward, providing you with what you need to move on and have hope in the future.

Self-Awareness: Develop your Own Strengths

Most people are all too willing to relinquish their super hero power particularly when faced with a disagreement because they feel they don’t have the power to speak up. This can happen in both business and personal relationships.  Keep in mind, that being without inner power can create a more hopeless situation than the problem itself.

All is not so hopeless, you can keep inner power by standing up for yourself, to overcome resistance, to turn a catastrophe into an opportunity. Remember, that true strength is in the core of your being. It’s a quiet calm that isn’t disturbed by events or the turmoil of emotions. Inner strength establishes self-power that will anchor, uplift, and encourage you. Strength can give you the power to overcome stress and adversity. They is to become more aware of it.

Resilience and overcoming adversity come from a strong sense of self.

The Benefits of Optimism

Society has taught us that life is difficult, that struggling is the norm. Society wants us to believe that the safest place for us is behind a wall. In this environment, optimism seems foolish and unrealistic. Yet, when you meet people who are truly optimistic, you envy their cheerfulness. Attitudes of pessimism, skepticism, and cynicism come from fear and distrust. Life can take care of itself, that’s the attitude of optimism.

To get an optimistic attitude you need to change your way of thinking and have an inner conversation.  This self-talk involves thinking positive thoughts that shows hope and opportunity to any situation at hand.  It also means that when you speak out loud, you use positive words that go into the universe.  When you do this, you become a reflection of the person that you want to be.  As a result, you will attract positivity into your life and create a more hopeful future.

How to Build Resilience, Strength and Optimism?

How to Develop Resilience?

Resilience is an ongoing process that requires patience, effort and time, as well as taking numerous steps.

• Support of Others:  When you have healthy relationships with family members, friends or others this is important in building your resilience. Their support can help really make you feel loved and cared for, especially when they take the time to listen to your concerns or worries.  They will be your backup and your strength to build up your resilience.
• Change is a part of life.  When you learn to accept that change is a part of living it will help you deal with stress and adverse situations in a positive way. Sometimes circumstances change resulting in disappointment or despair. Just think if you take a different perspective and simply accept what you presently cannot change. You will allow yourself find clarity and focus to alter these circumstances.
• Do not see problems as insurmountable. You will not be able to change stressful situations, but you can certainly change the way you interpret and respond to these events. Look beyond what is presently happening and begin to look towards the future, with solutions and opportunities. Give yourself a chance to work things out and find a solution and your circumstances can get better. Remember deal with these events, on step at a time. Reach out to friends and family that you can talk to and help you deal with life challenges.
• Take Decisive Action: When you seek the support of others and you search for a solution, this will help you build resilience as you take action to resolve the problem at hand.  Your decisiveness will be constructive and effective, and most importantly it will relief stress. 
• Cultivate Positivity: As you take action to resolve your problem you are developing confidence and learning to trust your instincts.  Congratulate yourself on this progress and continue to nurture yourself.  This will certainly continue to build resilience.
• Take care of yourself. It important that you participate in activities that bring you joy and satisfaction. Take care of your body, mind and spirit.  Each needs to be nurtured to maintain optimal health and wellness. For instance, meditation and spiritual practices can help build connections and restore hope. When you keep your mind and body healthy it will also help you to deal better with situations that need resilience.

Action Plan for Mental Health and Wellness

Successfully Cope with Stress and Anxiety with Wellness Strategies

“Mental health is one part of an interconnected package of overall health including mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health. To achieve optimal health and wellness we need to take into consideration the person as a whole—body, mind, spirit, and emotions.”  – Iris Morales

How to Build Inner Strenght?

• What is your purpose:   In order to achieve external success, we need to build your inner strength? When you have a purpose and an opportunity to make a difference, this will help you to overcome the fear of failure.  Then your focus and purpose will help you to cultivate inner strength. 

” The meaning of life is to find your gift.” When you have a purpose, you do your best work, you find your deepest strength.” – Shakespeare

• Make yourself a Priority:  Make sure you make your well-being your top priority because it will help you to deal with life challenges.  The strength comes from knowing that you are equipped, physically, mentally and spiritually prepared to handle these life challenges.  
• Have a Positive Mindset:  Just like you feed your body with nutrients, it is also important to feed it the right mindset. A positive mindset will get you through the roughest of times and provide inner strength.
• Decide, Commit, and Act. As I mentioned above, when you are decisive and act effectively it will promote success and diminish failure.  Being strong means relying on an efficient use of your energy. When you are indecisive it is a real drain brain and saps your energy. So be decisive and act and this will make you feel good and will make you stronger.
• Embrace your Fears: At times we are afraid of new opportunities or challenges, but, you can take on immense challenges that will inevitably increase confidence and inner strength. You may constantly struggle between doing what you think you can’t to doing what can bring about progress. Strength comes from doing what you thought you couldn’t do. When you take a chance and get out of your comfort zone change happens, and the result is a better and stronger you. That is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of.

Confidence Building Tips

 

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If you suffer from a lack of confidence, it will continue to hold you back, even if you become skilled at faking it. The great news is, you can be one of the few people that can learn how to build an undeniable, persistent, and genuine level of self-confidence that won’t be affected by outside circumstances.  Sign up for our Hold Your Head Up with Confidence Guide. Our guide will provide you with the tips and strategies to develop confidence in all areas of your life.  Sign up below.

How to be and Optimistic Person?

Being Optimistic is key to exceeding expectations and being successful.  Optimism is what helps you to deal with the unexpected challenges, to overcome stress and disappointments. It encourages you to learn from your mistakes rather than letting them defeat you. Optimism gives you hope, confidence and faith in your ability to find a solution to your problems.

Here are some ways to build become more optimistic.

• Stop focusing on the Problem:  Begin to focus on a solution rather than on the problem.  Don’t let yourself obsess about a problem, or allow yourself to feel depress, negative, or experience self-doubt.  Just begin to have a positive mindset and find a way that you can do things better.  When you replace your negative thoughts with focused thinking then you will feel like you are achieving a solution and have set optimism in motion.
• Watch who you Hang out with: You probably know people that are constant complainers and negative about everything.  When you hang out with such people, negativity can become contagious and you risk becoming like them. So, run don’t walk from people like this. Life is hard enough as it is without the added negative energy. Its ok show sympathy and understanding when people are like this, but it doesn’t mean you going to allow them to bring you down. When you surround yourself with positive and happy people, you most likely will be the same.  You will have an optimistic outlook on life, rather than a pessimistic one.
• Turn off the Negativity:  Sometimes when you watch the news for instance, you are bombarded with all this negativity which can be overwhelming, depressing and can stress you out.  It wise to keep up with what is going on in the world, but at the same time you must promote positivity.  Watch more positive programs that will enlighten or inspire you.  Limit your consumption of the negativity and focus on more productive tasks that will provide a balance and harmony in your life.  It’s important to engage in activities that will help maintain a positive outlook.
• Accept what you cannot Change:  As mentioned before uncertainty is sometimes difficult to deal with but if you learn to accept circumstances that you cannot control and focus on a solution you will be better off. You become a more positive and optimistic person as you adapt and thrive.  Once you reach this goal there is little room for being pessimistic.
• Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
• Don’t for a moment start looking at what the other person has achieved in their life. Remember you have your own gifts and the journey in life.  As I mentioned before, your journey is to find your purpose in life and once you do that will propel you to move forward to achieve your goals.  Remember success means different things to different people.  Define your success and move forward to achieve it will bring you happiness and accomplishment.  Not worrying about what the other person has, will relieve a lot of your stress and anxiety as well.
• Create Habits of Optimism:  You know what they say practices makes perfect! It’s natural to feel pessimistic at times, but with practice and some patience you can develop optimistic habits.  It is possible to learn new habits. It’s all about a positive mindset and training yourself to stop thinking negatively and begin thinking about the endless possibilities that are available to you.  Remember to practice and practice. ​

Life is full of challenges and stress, but you should never give up hope in uncertain times.  There are solutions available to you.  It just takes a little push from you, so you can move forward to the life you so desire and deserve.  Implement some of these suggestions every day.  Even if you did just one it will set you in motion and you will see positive results.  It will take time, but with every step you take you will have more resilience, more strength and feel more optimistic.