Persevering Through The Hard Times

We all go through hard times, we hit bumps in the road, and moments in our lives that feel like they will last forever.  So how do we get through them? How do we continue to live our lives when all we want to do is hide from the world?  I wish I had a good answer for you but these are questions that through my life I have continuously asked. I never got the “right” answer because the answer I wanted to hear is not what was going to get me thru, its not what was going to help me grow, get stronger, and become the best version of myself.  The answer I was searching for is what I hoped to be the easy way out, an end to my hardships.

I always wished that my anxiety would just go away, that I would wake up one day and *poof* gone! I go to bed wishing and praying that when I wake up the next morning I’ll be anxiety free. Then to my disappointment I wake up with nothing changed, sadness filled me, and feelings of hopelessness took over.

The #1 question I get asked is how do you do it? I’m always taken back when I get asked that because I still struggle with anxiety and I never thought that “I do do it”.  What I have done is chosen to go thru it regardless of how many times it comes, I chose to seek help, and decided that I didn’t want to live life this way forever.  That no matter what, I would still continue going on,  accomplishing things I wanted to do, and that I was determined to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

I also had to accept that I might have to live with this to some extent for the rest of my life.  I don’t know if God will choose to heal me or if this is something he is allowing for a greater purpose or to even just refine me.  So what now? What do we do when the hard times come & our circumstances don’t change? How do we get thru it?

Changing our perspective from the “why me’s?” to the “what now’s.” Taking something that seems so negative and using it for something positive.  Choosing to face the things we have tried so hard to push back and accept it, live it, feel it, and heal from it. Yes that’s right, embrace it and allow it to come. The more you push it away the more it will build up, which many times has lead me to be in worse shape then I already was in. Anxiety effects everyone differently and the “why’s” of why it happens to each individual person is different but the feelings are similar.  You may not know why in that particular moment your body goes into complete anxiety mode, feeling like you can’t breath, and that you may pass out at any moment. But pull away and allow it to come over you, feel it, cry, scream, and then when your ready you stop.  YOU ARE IN CONTROL! You are always and have been in control. We think that anxiety controls us because of how it comes on and the unknowingness of it, but its not, you are.

                                                                                            Photos by: @heyfelice 

If you are currently going through a hard time, where it seems like there will be no end, where everyday you are on the verge of tears, the overwhelmingness of all your anxiety seems to escalade more and more, I want you to know that there is an end and it will get better. Don’t look ahead to the next week or even day, take it moment to moment, and continue to persevere through. You are not alone, I know what your going through, and I’m here for you.

Please leave me your prayer requests, I want to pray for you today, and walk alongside you.

Xo,

Tania