Coping With Setbacks
Setbacks are an inevitable part of goal setting and the process of change.
They can feel disappointing, de-motivating, and even humbling. In my own life, I've experiences setbacks in a variety of forms, and they are very common for everyone on a journey to success. An injury, an unexpected change, losing a job, a personal bereavement, and feeling 'stuck' in a plateau are just a few setbacks that you might experience.
The beauty of setbacks is that although they are often perceived as negative, they are an incredibly valuable learning experience and often lead us to heightened success!
Have you ever met a very successful person who claims to have never had a setback? Probably not. That's because there are two ways to handle setbacks - the first is letting it affect us negatively. We could become depressed, saddened, and let it define who we are as a person.
OR, more positively, we can learn from the setback. Why did it happen? What are potential blind spots? What would we have done differently if we could do it all again?
This week, your goal is to think about a major setback you've bad in your life - and how it impacted you positively
Examples could look like:
- Setback- Being fired from our job
- Benefit- Forced to look for other jobs and ended up finding a job you're really happy in!
- Setback- Not achieving goal of losing weight
- Benefit- Made me realize that I wasn't giving it 100% of my effort, and now I've found a better way to give it my all!
- Setback- Bereavement of family member, friend, or pet
- Benefit-Made me re-evaluate my priorities in life and make positive change as a result
Use this week to think about your journey of positive change, which includes preparing for and dealing with setbacks. If you don't prepare adequately, you'll feel disarms and off-balance when a setback does happen. Instead say,
