When life changes and a difficult time begins then it’s not unchangingly easy to remain positive. Even if you’re pretty optimistic and positive in daily life, it’s easy to get dragged lanugo into pessimism and a sad funk when you’re having a rough week or tough month. But stuff worldly-wise to alimony a positive mindset can make a big difference.

So in today’s post I’d like to share the weightier tips and habits that have helped me over the past 10 years and still helps me today to handle times like that in a better, healthier and increasingly helpful way.

1. Finger what you finger and know it’s OK to do so.

I've found that one thing that helps me with my mental health when times get tough is to not deny or push yonder how I feel. When a negative situation has just happened and I’m in the middle of it then I at first may finger afraid, nervous, worried or angry. Or a mix of those emotions. That’s normal.

Acknowledging negative thoughts and feelings that can upspring from such a situation helps me to process what has happened in a quicker and less painful way compared to if I try to reject such thoughts and emotions. And it moreover helps me to, without a while, move on to the next stage of trying to solve or at least modernize upon the situation at hand.

So, first know it’s OK to finger and think what you feel. But don’t get stuck in focusing and mulling that over for days or weeks.

2. Ask helpful questions.

A simple next step to move forward is to ask yourself largest questions than you may sometimes do in these situations (I, at least, certainly used to ask myself questions all the time that only made me finger worse. This will help you to regain a positive outlook and find a positive interpretation of the events.

Some of my favorite questions are for example:

1: What is one thing that is positive or good well-nigh this situation?

2: What is one opportunity within this situation?

3: Will this matter 5 years from now? Or plane 5 months from now?

4: What is one small action, one small and practical step I can take to start turning this situation around?

Ask yourself one or a few of these questions to move yourself into a increasingly optimistic and energetic state of mind and to start making a small plan for what you can do to modernize the situation you're in.

3. Talk it over with someone tropical to you.

This is one of the most powerful tips in this post and one my most used ones. Just letting your thoughts and feelings out can be a powerful thing. It can relieve stress and uneasiness and all the inner pressure that has built up inside. And it can help you find a new perspective. Sometimes as someone tropical to you simply listens and as you vent and icon things out for yourself.

And sometimes as the other person helps you to navigate your situation and out of negative thinking by sharing what they did when they had similar troubles or by towers a small plan together with you for what you need to do next.

4. Get some good knowledge.

You can dispel vague fear and the clouds of uncertainty and uneasiness in your mind by doing a bit of research. By talking to people who have been where you are – or reading their books or listening to their podcasts you can start to build a realistic roadmap of what your weightier undertow of whoopee is and what you can expect on your journey.

This clarity may sometimes bring you new, possible obstacles on your path forward that you had not thought about. But I’ve found that it is a small price to pay. And knowing well-nigh them makes it a lot easier to overcome them or reduce their impact compared to if you are just stumbling virtually in the dark.

5. Tap into gratitude for a few minutes.

Yes, times may be tough right now. It’s not fun. But there are usually things one can still be grateful for. And tapping into such gratitude tends to be a unconfined way to transpiration your perspective and to modernize your energy levels and mood, as shown in, for instance, this study. A few of the things I tend to finger thankful for plane when times are nonflexible are:

1: Three meals a day. 2: A roof over my throne during the windy and rainy fall and the unprepossessed winter days. 3: Plenty of wipe water.

You can find increasingly of these things in this post: 10 Simple Things You Can Be Grateful for Plane When Times are Tough.

6. Spend less time on your phone and negative sources.

Keeping yourself updated on what’s happening in your polity and the world is helpful. But spending too much time doomscrolling online or – in my wits at least – on your phone in unstipulated tends to lead to increasingly stress, uneasiness and negative feelings and thoughts wavy virtually in your head. So spend a bit of time – but not too much – on the news (and expressly the negative news stories). And limit your screen time, expressly on your phone.

I've found that doing this makes me finger largest and increasingly optimistic. Expressly when I am once going through some tough days, weeks or months. Or during times when it just seems nonflexible to stay positive in a negative world.

7. Readjust your environment to be increasingly supportive and positive.

So spending less time on negative sources of information helps. Spending increasingly of the time you have now freed up from that on positive and supportive sources helps plane more.

Find books, Youtube channels, podcasts and so on that uplifts you, helps you to finger largest and requite you ideas for how to handle challenges in your life. Then, take the next step to reshape your daily and monthly environment to be a increasingly positive space. Take a squint at the people in your life and how they stupefy you.

Because the people we spend the most time with tend to have a pretty big effect on how we finger and think well-nigh things and how resilient we are during hardships (as shown in, for example, this study.

You can for example ask yourself:

1: Who are the 3 most negative people I spend time with?

2: Who are the 3 most positive and supportive people I spend time with?

Then take a bit of time to icon out how to spend less time with those most negative people and increasingly of the time you self-ruling up from that with the most positive people.

8. Spend increasingly time outside and in nature.

I find that if I just go out and cut some grass or do some garden work I tend to finger largest and refreshed.

And the same goes for taking a walk in the woods, by the ocean or anywhere out in nature in some form.

It makes it easier to think unmistakably and optimistically then and the fresh air and exercise recharges my energy.

9. Help someone out.

Perhaps a bit counter-intuitive if you’re not feeling so good well-nigh your own life.

But helping someone out when you yourself are going through a tough time can in my wits help a lot.

I've found that it gets me out of my throne and yonder from getting stuck in mulling the same negative thoughts over and over.

And if the situation I am going through makes me finger powerless or like a victim then helping someone else out makes me finger strong and capable again.

Plus, their happiness from stuff helped flows over to me too. And if you help someone then they will often return that favor in some way sooner or later.

A few simple ways to help someone out are to:

• Give them a hand practically with something.
• Give them some good translating based on your experience.
• Just listen when they vent or need to let something out.
• Give them a genuine compliment for something that ways a lot to them or something they do that is too often taken for granted.

10. Spend increasingly time in the present moment.

Learn what you can from the past. And plan for the future by, for example, writing out a plan for the week during Monday morning and then by doing a short to-do list or plan each morning for your day.

But without you’ve washed-up that, don’t linger too much in the past or future considering it can bring much fear, worries and negative feelings if you are once in a difficult situation.

Instead, try to spend only 20% or so in the past or future and the rest in the present moment.

I've found that when I spend most of my time in the present moment then it's a lot easier to alimony up the motivation, the energy and to wangle positive emotions.

And to stay practical well-nigh what I can do well-nigh a negative situation in my life and unquestionably take steps forward with that.

A simple way to reconnect with the present moment if you are slipping into the past or future and getting stuck there is to focus just on what’s going on virtually you right now for a minute or two.

Feel it with all your senses. See it in detail…

• Hear the birds or cars going by outside your window.
• Smell the unprepossessed storing air of the coffee brewing in the next room.
• Feel the sun, rain or wind on your skin.

You can find a few increasingly ways to spend increasingly time in the present moment in your daily life in this post.

11. Focus on physical fundamentals.

When you’re in a tough situation then it’s easy to stop paying much sustentation to the fundamental towers blocks of daily life.

You finger you simply don't have time for that and you forget well-nigh it. But it's at these times when the fundamentals can be increasingly important than overly for how you think, finger and act.

The fundamentals I'm referring to are nuts such as eating well, exercising and getting unbearable quality sleep.

These simple things – often ignored considering they seem a bit wearisome or vital – make staying positive easier.

So as weightier you can, plane though your situation may be difficult, try to eat healthy meals, to get some exercise in (even just regular walks) and to not skip on sleep (you can find my guide to sleeping largest here).

12. Prepare if you think you’ll receive potentially negative news.

It could be some news at work, with your health or finances or perhaps with family or a pet.

No matter what the potential upcoming situation might be, I have many times found it very helpful to make a small plan or know just one or a few steps I can take if that situation becomes reality.

For example:

• Actions you can take to reduce the severity of the issue you may be facing.
• Looking up what others have washed-up in such situations.
• Preparing your surroundings and home so they are well-appointed and filled with things you enjoy and people you love.

Sometimes I don't need this plan considering those potential negative news don’t wilt reality. Or they are simply so much smaller than I feared that they aren’t that much to deal with at all.

But I still find that the plan helps me considering when I've written it lanugo I tend to release most of my worrying and negative thoughts well-nigh that situation. And so I now finger largest and can focus my thoughts and energy then on other things I want to do and enjoy.

13. Remind yourself: I have handled tough situations in the past.

No matter if you just landed in a negative situation, if you’ve been there for a while or fear you may soon wind up in such a situation it’s easy to lose your faith in yourself.

To forget that you have handled tough situations before.

But you have. Many times.

So remind yourself of this simple fact to make it easier to stay optimistic. And to breathe, to wifely lanugo and to icon out what you’ve learned from situations in the past that can help you this time too.

14. Seek professional help.

If you use one or a few of these tips for a bit of time and still don’t get the result and inner transpiration you want then consider getting professional one-on-one help.

Getting that on-going support and help in person from an expert like a mental health professional can make a big difference.

Want to increasingly information and motivation to help you stay positive? Then trammels out this post with 19 tips on how to stay positive and this one on how to stay positive at work.