coping with challenges
“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
I often think about my messaging around the authentic life and worry that it comes across as if living your authentic life will protect you from adversity, challenges, and, as Gandhi notes, conflict because it won’t.
Part of the human experience is navigating life’s challenges, and, as you probably have discovered or at least are beginning to understand, it’s through these challenges, both big and small, that we grow. So it’s not that we want to avoid challenges, but we want to be prepared for them, maybe even expect that they will arise, and be able to handle and cope with them–I don’t think we necessarily want to seek out more challenges than what life already has in store for us either.
This leads to how we can best prepare for coping with life’s challenges.
First, since I already mentioned it, it is to understand that it is impossible to avoid challenges—there is no perfect life. Expecting, not necessarily wanting, challenges to arise can keep you from being caught off guard when they show up. It is important to avoid becoming too expectant of challenges because I think there is a fine line between understanding challenges will arise and creating your challenges by manifesting them.
Secondly, and this will be obvious, living your authentic life will minimize the challenges that arise because some challenges are meant to redirect you toward your authentic life. When you are already living your authentic life, or on the path towards it, the Universe doesn’t need to redirect you because you’re already heading in the right direction—the redirection challenges are often the most severe as well, so living your authentic life can help minimize the severity of the challenges you will face. Again, it’s important to note living your authentic life will not help you avoid challenges, but I believe it will reduce the frequency and severity of challenges. I also think your personal alignment (spirit, mind, and body) will help you find the strength to handle the challenges you will face without allowing them to compound and grow.
Finally, paying attention to the signs from the Universe. I can’t prove this to you, but I believe the Universe provides guidance through signs (bald eagles), small challenges, and your intuition, and if we miss or ignore these signs, the Universe turns up the volume or severity in the case of challenges. If you can catch the sign early, then the Universe doesn’t need to dial up the severity, and you can learn the lesson or make the change needed without the struggle you’d experience if you kept missing the signs.
Challenges are inescapable.
Your ability to cope with the challenges is within your control, and thankfully, there are some things you can do to make coping easier.
If you are living or pursuing your authentic life, don’t fear the challenges you must experience to continue your evolution; trust that you are in the best position to cope, learn, and grow.
🎧 Listen to today's Note on the LifeDesign+ podcast.
See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,
JC
🦅 Some ways I might be able to help you live your authentic life:
🤝 One on Ones Let's hop on Zoom to do a guided meditation, a creative brainstorming session, or an overcoming an obstacle session.
📝 LifeDesign+ LifeDesign+ is rooted in the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process, which is a five-step process to help discover what your authentic life looks like and begin to design a plan to bring that life to reality. It continues to incorporate the alignment of your spirit, mind, and body to ensure you evolve with your authentic life, as the authentic life is not a destination, it’s an evolution.
💸 AlignedLife+ AlignedLife+ (and the one-time engagement AlignedLife) takes LifeDesign+ to the next level by aligning your finances with your authentic life at RLS Wealth. For individuals looking for a financial advisor to help design and manage their financial plan while maintaining the alignment of spirit, mind, body, and money, AlignedLife+ was created specifically for you.
📈 LifeDesign+ for financial advisors LifeDesign+ for financial advisors mirrors the LifeDesign+ relationship, including the focus on the alignment of spirit, mind, and body, with an important distinction—once the plan for your authentic life has been designed, we shift our focus to integrating your new plan with your practice.
🤝 Outsourced life planning As your outsourced life planner, you bring me in to take your client through the Kinder Institute of Life Planning’s EVOKE process to help them better understand who they are, what they want their life to look like, and create a vision of this life for you to execute on the financial plan. Since you are their financial advisor, you will be a part of each of the meetings, so you understand the “why” behind your client’s new plan.
