What do you do when you don’t know what to do?

Where do you go when you don’t know which way to turn and you feel as if you have exhausted every possible option?

How do you continue when you feel as if you are being squeezed so tightly that the top of your head is going to explode?

Who do you talk to when you feel so alone and empty that all you want to do is curl up in a ball and give up?

When do you make the decision that the situation is unwinnable and that the only option left is to concede defeat?

Why then, with these questions before you and in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, do you set your jaw in fierce determination and go back out in the world and take blow after blow, when what you really want to do is run as far, and as fast, away as you possibly can?

Many of you have been faced with some, or all of these questions at different times in your life. When your answer, always, is to fight no matter what, to never give up no matter how great the pain or how steep the hill, then you have become a member of an exclusive and elite club of people who believe so strongly in what they are doing that they are willing to pay any price in order to turn their aspirations into their reality.

Here in Alberta the above questions are becoming commonplace as more and more people are finding themselves in situations the likes of which they have never previously experienced.

According to a paper recently released by one of the major banks, the provincial economy is in the deepest recession of its history. The end is not in sight and the ongoing pain keeps pushing further away the healing that can only take place once that pain begins to fade away.

So what do you do?

According to a few of my friends and clients who, despite dealing with levels of adversity that would leave most of us in a bloody heap on the ground, are managing to weather the storm fairly well, there are a few absolute “Must Do’s” that will benefit us all.

1. Accept the status quo. It is what it is and complaining about it, whining about it and allowing ourselves to become miserable because of it will do absolutely nothing to make it any better.
2. Leave the past where it belongs – behind you. Lamenting over the good old days, and fantasizing about how good those days were does nothing more than provide a temporary escape from reality. All we have is the present and that’s where our focus must be.
3. Regardless of what happened yesterday, remind yourself that each day is a new day that provides you with fresh opportunities to bring amazing gains into your life.
4. Remember; it ain’t over till it’s over, and only we get to choose when it’s over.
5. Keep telling yourself that the same opportunities that were present in the good old days are still present today. You just may have to work harder, dig deeper and search further to find them.
6. Focus only on what you need to do and become deaf to those who tell you otherwise.
7. Take time each day to acknowledge and praise yourself for your valiant efforts. Feel proud for continuing to battle seemingly insurmountable odds.
8. Train yourself to feel the indescribably magnificent feelings that you will feel when you finally succeed. Use these feeling to energize yourself to keep going.
9. Remember, this too shall pass, and focus on where you will be when it does finally pass.
10. And finally, never lose sight of this: the only person whose opinion of you matters is yours and the only person whose belief in you is vital to your success is also yours. Love yourself, believe in yourself and, as the old saying goes, when you find yourself going through hell, just keep going.

Great rules to live by.

Till we read again.