How to Feel Better When Feeling Battered ?

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The feeling of being battered by life is awful. I know.

We have lots of trouble in life, big ones and small ones. You can say that these troubles are real and you can also say they are imaginary.

To each and every situation, your mind decides if it should be troubled or not. When your mind sees every other thing as troubles, you feel overwhelmed. Over a sustained period of time, you become battered.

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To get a panic attack, just converge all the worst-case scenarios in your head and see how it explodes: you miss your project deadline, your children are ill-prepared for exams, your mortgage payment is long unpaid, your aged parent has a nasty fall and so on.

*kaboom*

Don't let that happen to you. There are ways to avoid that and there are ways to turn a bad-hair day around.

Before you read on, say this to yourself five times: "It can be done!!".

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1. Confront the trouble

You need to know why you are in a battered state. Ask yourself what has been troubling you and be honest with yourself. More often than not, you are troubled by something undone. It helps if you would write down your thoughts.  

"Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them." (Henry Ford)

2. Tell yourself that you deserve happiness

Of course you deserve to be happy. All of us do. Have an agreement with yourself that from now on, that no one should make you unhappy without your permission.

"Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality." (Les Brown)

3. Think positively

Your mind works in a strange way. When you fill it with predominantly positive thoughts, you feel happy. The converse is also true. Each time you hold a negative thought, have many more positive ones to drown it.  

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." (Willie Nelson)

4. Talk affirmatively

When you think wishy-washy, you act wishy-washy and you get 'wishy-washy' results. When that happens, you would not feel upbeat. Be conscious of your choice of words. Instead of saying "maybe", say "I will". Instead of saying "hoping", say "plan". You do not have to believe in what you say. Just turn this into a habit and see your actions change with the switch of choice of words.  

"Your beliefs about reality become your beliefs about yourself." (Steve Pavlina)

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5. Be persistent

You would want to repeatedly work on your mind and increasingly take more control over it. While you need to be persistent, you do not want to be too forceful. You might occasionally make mistakes and lose control over your thoughts. Let it be. Carry on with what you have originally set out to do. No self-punishment is ever necessary or helpful.  

"The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way." (Dale Carnegie)

6. Move your butt

With this I mean exercise. When you work out physically, your body releases endorphins to make you feel great. It is a 'free-for-all' wonder-drug that is given to everyone. Make good use of it.

"Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states." (Carol Welch)

7. Make a 'grateful' list

There is always something you can be grateful for. In fact, most of us have a whole load of these things except that we often overlook them. Find a quiet corner and make a list with the header "I am grateful for...". We all need some reminders, sometimes.  

"A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude." (Bruce Wilkinson)

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You may not believe in what you have read so far. You don't have to. If it has been so convincing, most of us would not have been plagued with misery from time to time. However, I am certain that you do not look forward to another bad day. Just for that reason, try out the above without believing in any bit of it first. See yourself gradually transform. You will.

Life does not beat you up. You do.

You might also like to read: You Are Your Worst Enemy

"If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self."

~ Napoleon Hill ~