"The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective."~Al Neuharth

Challenging times can be quite stressful…both for you and those around you.

How do you handle Challenging Times?

Do you hide and make pretend that it is not happening? This sometimes works…but only for a little while. Eventually, you are going to have to face the challenge and deal with what is happening. Denial is only a temporary band-aid.

Do you charge ahead and battle? For some personalities, this may be the initial reaction. The key word here is “reaction”. Being reactive is not usually the best path. It typically has a friend called “emotion” tagging along. Portraying emotion while being reactive clouds the message you are saying/sending….and you will have to resend your message again later (hopefully without too much damage control).

There are some ways to manage through challenging times without shying away or hiding in a cave.

You can “shift your paradigm” and find your “silver lining” and “go with the flow”. Not so easy if there are fundamental differences that you just can not accept. But, it is a choice and under the right circumstances it may be the best choice. As the saying goes, “choose your battles”.

Another approach is to take time to “Think“. Then, dissect the challenge into manageable pieces and develop a plan around what you can. You may not be able to address all of it. That is okay. Prioritize what is important to you and move forward.

Hopefully, at end of this journey, you can look back and realize that you gave it your all…that you learned something…that you didn’t let challenge overwhelm your life.

Once you remove the emotion, add objectivity and get some clarity…that challenge which seemed like a mountain at the onset may actually be a molehill.