The issues we have in dealing with challenges is not in the fact that we face one, but the real deal is in how we handle these challenges. Challenges, hardship, and various life difficulties can make or break you. Dealing effectively with difficulties and problems requires appropriate emotional control, acceptance of realities and charting out a course of action. Thus, arming ourselves with the right intellectual, mental, and spiritual strategies to get through these phases can help us achieve successful breakthroughs. Note that there is nothing you can do to STOP feature problems.

There is this proverb “When life gets tough, the tough get going.” This may be true for some, but, for others, hardship can be too much to overcome. When the going gets tough, their life simply falls apart. What is it exactly that separates those who thrive regardless of adversity and those who don’t? Is it genetics, luck, or pure willpower? People take different routes to deal with hardship in their lives. Some people turn to alcohol and drugs, stealing, or physical violence. Conversely, many people have gone through hell and back and are moral, happy, and successful.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. Yet, it is not everyone that can develop and become the person they are destined to be during hardship. Some deteriorate and disintegrate. Instead of being made, they face an early death. Just because adversity makes you stronger doesn’t really means it makes everyone stronger. It destroys some. Not because they weren’t created to handle adversity, but because they didn’t develop themselves enough to overcome adversity.

If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small. Proverbs 24:10 (NKJV).

In the day of adversity indicates that there will be a season or a time when you will face certain adversity, and when you do, if you’re unable to cope, it is because you are weak. The Bible passage talks about your strength being small. Athletes train their muscle to develop their strength. You train your mind to develop the kind of strength that will enable you to overcome any kind of challenge that life throws on your path.

Being that you can’t escape pain or hardship, it means you need to train your mind so you will be able to handle any kind of pain and hardship when the time comes. Every single one of us, at some point in our life, will experience pain, suffering and hardships of some form or another. I hope I am not scaring you with the truth. I am here to support, encourage and motivate you. I am giving you hope. You now have the opportunity to prepare, build and develop yourself so you can face hardship without falling apart.

Since Suffering, pain and hardships are inevitable. Make sure your preparation for them is also just as inevitable. This is the most important step. We’re human. We change. We can get comfortable in our environment, but sometimes we get too comfortable and the desire for change kicks in. It’s a good thing, but it can also be your enemy, if you allow it. You can change your circumstances to get out of your unwanted situation. It can be difficult to do this, especially when nothing but negativity surrounds you, but if you decide willingly to change your circumstances, you can. It’s just a matter of knowing how.

Growth is inevitable in life, change is constant. If you are stagnant and stick in a routine for too long, what happens? Well, most of the time, you get a feeling of boredom, a desire for change, or despair that comes from being in a stalled state of progression. That’s just you, telling yourself that you need to change something. I don’t know what needs to change this very moment in your life, you do. I am here to encourage you to embrace the change. It is not going to be easy, but you can succeed if you want to.

Good mental health is a sense of wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. It enables us to fully enjoy and appreciate other people, day-to-day life and our environment. When we are mentally healthy, we can: form positive relationships, use our abilities to reach our potential, and deal with life challenges.

Positive mental attitude (PMA) is the philosophy that having an optimistic disposition in every situation in one’s life attracts positive changes and increases achievement. Adherents employ a state of mind that continues to seek, find and execute ways to win, or find a desirable outcome, regardless of the circumstances. It opposes negativity, defeatism and hopelessness. Optimism and hope are vital to the development of PMA.

Thinking patterns trigger emotional patterns. PMA creates a positive mindset, this enables you to see your struggles in a different way. How you see your struggles will determine how you cope and deal with it. So to change emotional patterns, sometimes what we need to do is curtail our negative thinking and strengthen our positive thinking. Because of built-in survival mechanisms, our brains are naturally wired to pay more attention to negative events than positive ones. But in reality, we experience positive events with much greater frequency. One key to building resiliency, lies in noticing and appreciating those positive experiences whenever and wherever they occur.

Numerous research found that we all have about 45, 000 negative thoughts in a day. This is the more reason why you need to develop a positive mental attitude so you win the war against negative thoughts. That’s about 80% of all of your thoughts. This is frightening. Negative thinking is almost always focused on two areas — the past and the future. You meditate and recall painful, frustrating, or shameful past events, or you fret about some anticipated event or encounter that hasn’t happened.

Practice these simple exercises and suggestions to keep your thoughts on the positive side.

1.    Take note of your thoughts and feelings.

2.    Use only positive words when talking.

3.    Eradicate negative feelings and emotions from your system.

4.    Use words that evoke strength and success.

5.    Practice positive affirmation.

6.    Create a happy thought, a positive image, or give yourself positive feedback to keep bad feelings in check.  

7.    Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and believe that you will succeed in fulfilling your goals.

8.    Allow yourself to feel confident about the things you have accomplished, even if you’ve messed up in other areas.

9.    Learn from the past.

10.    No matter how bad things get, remember that they could be worse and be grateful for all the good things that are in your life, even when it seems there’s worse than good.

11.    Think of it as an opportunity. Sometimes even the seemingly negative things in our lives present us with opportunities.

12.    Visualise what you want to accomplish.