How to Handle Temporary Set-Backs

Pain is Temporary, Quitting lasts forever. - Lance Armstrong

     So you have a vision, your eyes are set like an arrow shot in the direction of your goals, your big breakthrough seems to be coming your way and you are set, set to celebrate, set to shout for victory, set to breathe a sigh of relieve. 

     Then it happens. 
     That which you did not expect nor saw coming. A loved one dies. Your business is gutted with fire. Your daughter gets pregnant and runs out of home. 

     Your life has now officially crash landed, crumbling right in front of you. What do you do? Would you get distracted, submit to exhaustion, lose your willpower and cave in to pressure?

     In this piece, I will not proffer a solution for whatever you may be in - there isn't, in the first place, a "one tablet cures all" to such unforeseen happenings. Nonetheless I will highlight some important things that should help you go through it.

1. Develop an attitude of looking upwards. God is able to help you and is never far from you. Be strong enough to realize how weak and limited you are and cry out to him that can help you through every situation.

2. Open your heart out to people around. None of us is made to live in isolation from other people. No matter how much you love privacy and isolation you need people that will console and love you. Do not die alone!

3. Do not make a permanent decision for a temporary situation. Most set-backs are temporary occurrences. People make them permanent by the actions they take as a result. If you realize this you will ensure that every decision you need to make when a set-back comes will be carefully thought through. 

4. Generate a response plan. Generate a plan on how you will respond to what has just happened to you. As a rule, do not take the first reaction that naturally comes to you. Thoughtfully search deep within you for the appropriate response.