We Shall Overcome

Picture this:

It's a hard day. Challenging.
You know the kind.
You wake up feeling defeated. Before you even start.
It's not a lazy feeling.
Someday's it's an aimless feeling.
Some days it's a powerless feeling.
Sometimes it's a lonely feeling.

Perhaps at its core, it's a broke-down, unmotivated, somewhat agitated feeling.
Something is not right, and you're feeling beaten.
Beaten. Yes. Feeling beaten before you get out of the shower.
You might lose the whole day to this beaten feeling.
You might lose your dream to this beaten feeling.
You might lose everything because of this beaten-down feeling.

SO, what to do?? What to do? Because if you can't conquer this feeling, it will conquer you.
I've battled this beaten down feeling so many times before. I've found what works is to Name it, Accept it, Share it, Flip it, Escape it, Detour it, Use it, or Thank it.

1. Name It.

Until you name it, it owns you.
If you feel you've lost control over an important aspect of your life, admit it to yourself.
Maybe you feel that no matter how hard you try, you just can't win.
Maybe it feels like everyone can win except you. If that's what's bringing you down today, admit it to yourself.
Maybe you feel bad about yourself. Admit it. Naming a bad feeling is self-honesty. Without self-honesty you'll stay stuck.

2. Embrace It

Embrace whatever it is as a very normal human way to feel. Because it is. We all get down. Life is f-in hard on us all now and again. If you don't have hard hard days, you're (a) not alive, (b) not living, (c) not human. So appreciate your humanity, strong and weak. Don't kick yourself. Love your own beat-down feelings like you'd love your own child's cries of frustration while learning to ride a bike.

3. Share it.

Confide in someone how you're feeling and why. Speaking to someone about it will take the weight off it. Hiding the feeling from everyone else will turn the feeling into shame. You can't afford to let it turn into shame. Shame is the mother of all confidence killers. And if you are feeling ashamed, confiding in someone about it - someone who loves you and who won't judge you - will release the shame and get your power stirring again.

4. Flip it.

Usually when you feel beaten down, it's because you've slipped into feeling like a victim.
So you've got to flip it back to a knowingness that you still have control. Because you do.
Feeling like we're victim makes us feel weak, powerless, inadequate and lonely. It's not that some person
has got the best of you, rather it's that some person's behavior is challenging you to your core. And it's hard. But it's never out of your control. Never. You still have options. You still have the ability to choose your response. You still have the ability to grow.
It's not that the world has got the best of you, rather it's that circumstances are challenging you, to you core. And it's hard. But never out of your control. Never. Because you still have moves.

5. Escape it.

Think like Harry Houdini. You can get yourself out of this.
What you're facing can feel so hard. Indeed. But it only starts to feel like the death of your dreams when you're forgetting you still have many options to transform the situation. You have infinite options.
You always have many successful options that that you haven't tried yet - or even thought of. And you have a deep well of personal power, strength and brilliance. You haven't begun to find the bottom of your well of power yet. Your power runs infinitely deep. And the deeper you have to go, the more brilliant you'll find you are. You can get yourself out of anything. You can transform any problem into a prize.

6. Detour It.

If you can't face the problem today, do something you can feel good about.
Sometimes when we're tired and beaten down, our problem starts to own us, and when it owns us, we give it too much of our attention, everyday, no matter what.
It becomes a Kyrptonite hung around our neck. Take it off. Put it down. Walk away from it for a while.
Do something you can enjoy and easily control instead.
Bring your mood up with an easier more enjoyable activity.
Something that's good for your personal power. Something that gets your creative juices flowing.
Or your confidence up. Or something that enlarges your heart. Just do anything that gives you back your knowingness that you have power, ability, creativity, possibility, potential and the ability to move your life forward.
If you can't think of something to do for yourself, do something good for someone else. You can't give someone else a ittle lift without lifting your own mood.

7. Use it.

When your mood is restored a bit, look at your challenge and use it - as fuel.
Rocket fuel. Let it be the challenge that pushes you to grow.
Let it be the obstacle that vaults you to a new level of personal motivation.
Let it be the roadblock that stirs up your creativity, passion, and ferocity.
Let it be the problem that defined your relentless determination.

8. Thank it.

Thank it for showing up in your life. It came to help you grow. It did.
Because you asked for something more. And it came as the price of admission.
It's what your individualized Golden Ticket looks like.
Respond to your challenge with your massive personal power and you will gain entrance to your dreams made real.

Just don't quit. Or internalize it (meaning don't take an outside problem and internalize it as something that is wrong inside of you).

You're an infinitely powerful person and you can overcome anything. It's just the journey. It's just an obstacle along the path. It's not you. You're wonderful. And you're capable. And you're successful.

Sometimes you just get tired. It's understandable. You're working on something big.

So you've got some big things to overcome. You may be tired. Damned tired. But you're capable. Infinitely capable.

I know you get tired. I know you get beaten down. I know because I do too.

That's why I wrote this. Because I felt so beaten down today by my challenges that I didn't want to get out of bed. I wanted to say "Forget it. I can't do it. I give up. I'm too tired. I'm not strong enough. Uncle."

But I did get out of bed. I got myself up and wrote this article. For one reason: I've faced this feeling all too many times before. It has come with the territory of pursuing my dreams. It's the Destiny Maker that has come knocking with regularity on my door to find out How Bad Do You Want It? It's the Destiny Maker that comes to extract a decision: Quit or Grow? Love yourself or Not?

My success is not built on an absence of hard days. My success is built upon a response to many hard days. So when you feel feel beaten-down:

Don't quit it.

Don't internalize it.

Overcome it.

You can overcome anything. That's who you are.

 
Article written by Patrick Combs