We all experience various challenges and setbacks throughout our lives, and we change, adapt and overcome these in our own way to bring us to this pont today.

But do we actually remember what we did to get through these situations?

Probably not, as we were more concerned with sorting out whatever it was, so it’s unlikely that we kept detailed notes of each step we took along the way.

This article is here to give you 9 pointers that you could use to overcome any challenge you might already be facing, or one that might be waiting to come at you in the future.

1. Acknowledge and Accept Your Feelings:

Whenever things don’t happen in the way be expected or wished they would happen, which is most of the time because none of us are psychic, we need to let whatever emotions we have be felt and processed, so that they can be dealt with. This will usually leave us with some clarity over what happened, as well as what we could do differently next time to prevent a similar outcome happening again.

It’s important to not dwell on any of these emotions or try to overthink them. Try to keep the emotional part of your brain separate from the thinking part of your brain, as this can lead you down a bad path that’s not ideal for one’s mental stability. So do your best to be as non judgemental as possible about your emotions, and leave them to happen and be processed by your subconscious mind, then they’ll gradually disappear, allowing you to move on with your day.

Sometimes it might take longer than a few minutes or a day to process your emotions, but usually it can all be over within an hour or two.

2. Reframe the Setback:

Just because something hasn’t gone according to plan, it’s important to find the lessons so that you can use that information to take a different approach the next time, or maybe find new opportunities from the unexpected outcome. Some people frown upon those that look for the slider lining of dark clouds, however practising this regularly can certainly improve your quality of life from a number of different aspects, including your ability to recover and bounce back from adversities, and also the ability to move on quickly and not dwell in any perceived negative outcomes.

3. Set Realistic Expectations:

Even though it’s great to have high expectations for yourself, it’s also crucial to manage them realistically, as there are usually many more steps and attempts to reach the end goal than you’d hope. This is why it’s helpful to have multiple back-up plans for all scenarios, although it’s vital that you don’t get caught in the trap of overthinking about every possible outcome, to the point that you never even begin your first attempt to achieve your goal or goals. The R is the well known and popular SMART targeting method stands for Realistic, as that’s such an important factor when managing your expectations, so don’t ignore this part if you want to reach your goals, even if it won’t be as quick and painless as you might first assume it’ll be.

4. Develop a Strong Support Network:

Bouncing back alone is certainly possible, and is something I’ve done myself on numerous occasions. However, being able to lean on your network of family and friends, or even third party professionals, can definitely lighten the load when things start to look a bit more difficult than imagined. So don’t forget to reach out to those around you for that added support to get you through those tricky situations, as the saying goes “A problem shared is a problem halved.”

5. Take Care of Your Physical Health:

Whether it’s just getting out in the fresh air for a gentle walk, or maybe something more organised like a sports team, exercise class, or regular workout sessions at a gym, the movement and chase of focus is not only good for your physical well-being, it can also give space for the subconscious mind to process a lot of the complexities that might be bubbling around your brain when things go unexpectedly wrong.

6. Practice Mindfulness and Meditation:

Now moving from the body to the mind, engaging in purposeful activities such as meditation or basic mindfulness can bring you back in touch with the present moment, which puts your mind into the sensing state instead if the thinking state where it’s easy to start overthinking everything and imagining worst case scenarios of all kinds. So it’s helpful to take some time to release this pressure from yourself by practising a bit of mindfulness and/or meditation.

7. Learn from the Experience:

When things don’t go according to plan, it’s not the end of the world, so there are usually lessons to be learnt, or opportunities to be found from the unexpected outcome. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, refocus on how things are now, and how that can be used to carve a new pathway to where you want to go.

8. Stay Flexible:

In conjunction with the previou step, and building on something from the step that mentioned having a back up plan, it’s always important to approach all things with a flexible attitude. None of us can see into the future, only make educated guesses at what might happen, but keeping an open mind to the fact that things might actually not go as expected, because that’s just the way life works. Having a flexible mindset will allow you the freedom to adapt and overcome as needed when things start to be going a bit pear shaped.

9. Celebrate Small Wins:

Even if the final result hasn’t yet been reached, or the outcome wasn’t as expected, there were most likely a number of smaller victories on the way to where you are now, and these should be celebrated, because none of them happened as if by magic. You worked hard to reach each of those milestones, so it’s important that you recognise those achievements, as they will help keep you motivated to carry on.

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There’s a lot of tips right there to help you bounce back, and overcome adversities of all kinds. If you’d like some one to one support and guidance to get through it all, then book a free video chat today, and we’ll decide whether coaching is right for you.