Facing Constant Challenges? How to Keep Going When Life Gets Tough

Feeling like life keeps throwing challenge after challenge your way? In this episode, we explore how to navigate difficult moments without losing momentum. I share real experiences of setbacks, frustration, and feeling drained—and how I’ve learned to move through them. 

You’ll discover practical tools like reframing challenges, stepping back to reset, breaking goals into smaller steps, and asking for support when needed. Most importantly, we dive into the power of perseverance and why continuing, even in small ways, is the key to long-term success. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stuck, this episode will help you regain focus, strength, and direction.

Transcript

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Have you ever felt like life just keeps throwing challenge at a challenge your way? Just as you start to make progress, something else comes up and knocks you back? In this episode, I share what I've been going through recently and how to navigate these moments. We will talk about reframing challenges, knowing when to step back, asking for support, and most importantly, how to keep going when things feel tough. If you are in a season of struggle right now, this is for you. Welcome to You Matter. I matter, a transformational podcast about reconnecting with what truly matters. I'm your host James, and each week is an opportunity to explore a little bit deeper who you really are with amazing guests. We explore topics such as purpose, connection, commitment, and what it really means to live more consciously. If you've been feeling disconnected from yourself, from others, or from life, you are in the right place. Join us on new matter. I matter. Now. Let's begin. Have you ever felt like you're just getting challenged after challenge, after challenge, after challenge, or you progress so far with what you're doing and then suddenly you're hit by some, something stops you. Or a a, you have this belief or this feeling that you can't quite do it. You just, you try and try and try and you just struggle. This is where I am currently and this is what I want to talk about really, because I've. Been through a few weeks. I've had, uh, my, my throat has swelled up because of a, uh, a tooth infection. I've, like, today I've got this, uh, event that I am, I'm running a meditation for a, a, a group online, but I'm struggling. My zoom isn't working properly, so I've got technical issues. I've had, uh, a point where I've just had, it's been feeling so tired and so. Drained and I wanna talk about how even though we have challenges. And challenges are always gonna happen regardless of what you do. Whether you are on a, an amazing trajectory and things are just going so smoothly, there's gonna be challenges. Or whether you just find yourself having challenge after challenge after challenge, and you're almost like, come on, gimme, gimme a break. What I wanna talk about is some of the ways in which I, well, how I overcome this. How, how I kind of allow myself to step into, yes, I might not, I might be having a challenge now, but I'm able to carry on. I'm able to step past that. I'm able to move through it. I'm able to find solutions to the challenges that may be going on. And one of the first thing is reframing the challenge. Or'cause some people might just see it as, why is life so tough? Why does life always gimme this, this, this, this, this? Or why do, why do I suddenly find I'm doing this? And suddenly a challenge hits you or you find that you suddenly have a mental block or something happens, reframe it. One of the easiest things to do is to reframe it, and what I usually do is if I've got a challenge coming up, there's a couple of things I do to reframe it. First thing is I see the challenge as a way to help me to get better, to improve what I'm doing, to strengthen different aspects of myself, to change my beliefs, to really allow myself to connect my body even deeper. So like, let's use the example of today. So today I've got this call. I'm struggling to find, figure out what to do. This is an opportunity for me to get better at using Zoom. It's an opportunity for me to realize that. Maybe option one and option two are, I'm working, so maybe I have to use my phone instead. So it gives me this, this ability to understand that I'm going through these different challenges, but I'm always gonna come out on top. Or another one might be that I, I, last, last, last week, I had a week off because of this throat infection, this a tooth infection, sorry. And. You know, I had this week of doing nothing. Now I could reframe that. I could see that as me being lazy or I could re reframe that as me being, seeing myself as resting. This is what my body needs. So maybe what I've actually understood by all this is that my body just needs time to ground, to relax, to chill, to. Kind of come back to my full strength. And so yeah, it's just about reframing and one of the best things I think is seeing challenges as a way to grow. That's all they are. Challenges are just a way to grow, to really hone in on our skills, to hone in on maybe areas that we need to improve to realize some subconscious beliefs that we may be having to maybe to be able to harness these abilities, these skills in a far, far more, better, superior way. I fully believe that if you weren't able to cope with it, you wouldn't have this challenge. So what I'm saying here is that the fact that you are having this challenge here now is an indication that you can overcome it. You can overcome this challenge regardless of what you think Now. Another way in which I overcome challenges is allowing myself to surrender. So what do I mean by this? So maybe you've had something happen to you and you've tried hours of, do you tried hours and hours and hours to fix it, but you're getting frustrated, you're getting angry, you're getting really, really annoyed. At this point. There is no point in trying to go any further because you're just making yourself get more and more upset. So what I mean by surrender is to allow yourself to. Go and have maybe a cup of coffee or to go and sit in the garden and allow yourself to take some, do some deep breathing or listen to a meditation, but in the spec that you're coming back to present moment. So you are surrendering to the current moment, and by surrendering to the current moment, it actually allows you to calm down. When you are in this state of surrender, state of allowing, state of, uh, being, quite often the answers will come. This is from my own personal experience. This is obviously something that I, this year that I'm practicing massively, is to be in this state of receiving because when I'm in a state of receiving, that's where I'm able to find solutions. And when you're able to find solutions, you are able to overcome what you're going for. So this might involve just, okay, you're a bit annoyed now. Okay, I'm gonna have 15, 20 minutes to go for a, um, a sit down. Or maybe I'm gonna have half an hour to go for a walk and I'm gonna allow myself to be in that present moment to just relax to, to be in that state of receiving. And I find this is so, so, so important because we live in a world of do, do, do, do, do. And, and this is my, my own, my past as well. So I've been there and sometimes I still do that. And I try to control every situation. I try to control how I overcome this challenge. But when you are, when you kind of surrender the moment. And you allow yourself to be in that state of allowance, state of receiving, that gives you space for better answers to come in. Whereas if you are trying to use your mind again, you are only using what you've done in the past, maybe there's a better solution out there that might work better. So I find that when I get to the point of frustration, just sitting back and. Relaxing. Now it sounds very, very counterproductive, but I've done this many a times over the last couple of months and I always find the answer I. Just maybe Plan A doesn't work. Plan B doesn't work, plan C doesn't work, but Plan D does, and that's part and parcel of life. Sometimes we don't find solutions from. The first time. And so it's been able to understand that. Do you know what? I'm gonna keep trying. I'm going to keep on trying because eventually I'm going to succeed. And that's what I've just done. You know, plan, plan A, B, and C didn't work. So I had to use Plan D, which for, for me was to use a friend's laptop and hey, Presto. The solution has been given. One of the other things that I do is to understand when a goal or something that you are wanting to achieve or a challenge might actually be a little bit too big, perhaps you've bit, you've bit off more than you can chew. Or maybe how you framed your goal or what you wanna achieve in a way that feels for you, feels confusing or doesn't quite sit right, or maybe you just feels like it's too much to do and so you get overwhelmed or you get anxious, or you struggle to get anywhere because you just don't know what to do. And that's where really sitting down and having, having a plan or sit down, write your goal down, write your whatever you want to achieve, whatever, whatever it is, and just ask yourself, what is the next step? What is the next step that I need to do? So I have currently. Doing 96 episodes on this podcast. If I had had this goal initially of I wanna do a hundred podcasts by this date. And done nothing about it or didn't break it down for me, that is very, very overwhelming. So what I usually do is I usually focus on the next podcast. I don't worry about the hundredth or 150 or 300 podcast because if I focus on 150 or 300, suddenly I'm like, oh my God, that's so much work. Whereas if a focus on the next podcast, the next guest, the, the, the next chapter of the book, the next page, the next opportunity, the, the, the, the next retreat, then it becomes easier. And then even then it can still feel very overwhelming. So like if I'm focused on the next retreat. Then for me, I have to break that down into smaller chunks even more, because the smaller the chunks, the easier I find it. And so for me, that is the key. The next thing that I wanna talk about is something I personally find really hard, and that is asking for help. I've always had this Rone Wolf mentality, this idea that I need to. Run a business on my own that I need to run a podcast on my own or a, a retreat or all these different things. And, but I'm starting to learn that it's great being able to do things on your own, but there's also times when you need other people. And so it's so important to know when something is too much for just you and. Asking for support from others, maybe they have a solution that you haven't thought of or may maybe even, even having a coach. I've got a coach, a business coach, and what I'm finding is that by having a business coach, coach, she can see things that I can't see. She can ask questions. To help me to delve a little bit deeper into what, why certain things are happening and how I can overcome it. And so by asking for help, you are actually, you aren't weak when you ask for help because there's some people think that by asking for help, you, you, you are weak. You that lone wolf mentality that when you ask somebody, you are a weak person, but you're not because asking for help takes a lot. Asking for help requires you to really, to understand that it's a, it's a strength when it's in the right context. And so it's knowing when it's in the right context. So if you are at a point of a challenge or something that's happening, but you are really, really struggling, then may be opening yourself up to somebody else is the key that you need. And so. So from, from my own personal experience, all the stuff that I've done so far is on my own, but I keep coming across or seeing the words. Um, I need, what's the words co cooperating. Um. Cooperating with others or kind of finding somebody that you can work with that can help you to really open you up, I think is key to really overcoming challenges in a whole different way. The final. So, uh, the final thing I wanna talk about, which is opposite to what I probably said earlier, is perseverance, is the ability to keep on trying when everything so far has failed to keep on taking the steps to keep on just by taking the steps you are shown to the world that you can persevere. That you have the resilience. And so having this idea of consistency, being able to take the steps to take the action to really step into this next version of yourself by having this penality of quite, I think, I think it's the wrong word, but anyway, we'll roll with it and be able to. Accomplish and step through a challenge and being able to really own it, to own the challenge, because we have all this perseverance and we have this ability to keep on going, but how often do we actually own the challenge? You know, this, this challenge is mine. I'm going to, I'm going to accomplish it. I'm gonna smash it, I'm gonna do it. And being able to really hone in on. That part of yourself that even though times get tough, I'm still gonna keep on going. I'm still gonna take the action when everything's against me, regardless of how big or small the step is. And that's where I'm going. I'm gonna leave you with that, that, um, step because really. That's what it all comes down to. Everything that I've talked about is about perseverance. Today. Even if you are just having a like 15, 20 minute break of relaxing and allowing, you are still moving them steps forward. You are still moving up steps forward, and you clear beliefs. You're still taking them steps forward when everything's against you, but you keep on going and that is what I've done my entire life. You know, I've, there's been difficult times in my life, but I've still kept going. I've been through five different relationships, but I still keep going because I know the one is out there. I still keep going with my podcast, even though last week I missed one. For the first one in nine, six episodes, I did not let that deter me. I keep on going even when. I'm still working on my dad's farm and I'm still working on the fire service. I keep going because I know that if I keep going, I'm gonna get there. And that persistence, that ability to keep on going is the key to achieving your dreams, goals, aspirations, whatever you wanna talk about. And this is where I'm gonna leave you because I've given you five different ways in which you can overcome challenges and I don't wanna overwhelm you. So have a nice day and I will put out another episode next week. Thank you for listening. If something in today's conversation resonated, take a moment to sit with it. And if you feel called, share this episode with someone who might need it to you matter. I matter is a growing space, and if you would like to stay connected. You're welcome to follow or subscribe wherever you are listening. It really helps us work to reach people. It's meant for. These conversations matter. You matter. I matter. Until next time, take care of yourself and the relationships in your life.