What to Do in Stressful Times

How are you feeling?

As our worlds have been changing rapidly, I want to offer you some thoughts that have been helpful for me.

When times are stressful, zoom in, just like with a camera lens. How am I in this moment? How are my kids, my family, in this very moment and just for this moment?

Your brain will want to run to the future. Gently bring it back to the moment. In this moment, everything is okay. You might feel upset. Your kids might feel upset, but, in this moment you know exactly what to do. You may not know what the future holds, or how you’ll handle the future, but you can do this moment.

When times are stressful, it’s also helpful to take time to zoom way out. Get the big picture of this life. Remember that we lived before this life. We will live after this life. We have loving Heavenly Parents.

I like to think about times when my kids are really mad that I expect them to go to bed, or don’t let them eat candy as a meal. They are genuinely upset, and they’re not really capable of understanding why I’m making the decisions I am.

I believe this is the same with us. We are genuinely upset when this life doesn’t go the way we expect. We don’t like the unknown. We don’t like most changes. We don’t like when things or hard, or watching other people suffer. But it’s possible we’re upset about something we can’t fully understand and see is in our best interest and has a higher purpose.

We will make it through this. Everyone in history always has made it through hard times. Every.time.

A lot of it won’t be comfortable. But that’s okay. We may feel worried, scared, angry. We may react badly to those emotions. We may not show up as who we want to be in different situations and different relationships. That is going to be okay, too.

We have everything we need to get through this moment and this life. We have repentance, the Atonement, prayer, the Spirit.

It may not be easy, but we can do it.

P.S. If you are struggling and want to talk to someone, sign-up here for a free one-on-one consult. I would love to help you through this.