Even though life can be a fantastic ride, sometimes it can also knock the wind out of your sails. When tough times trigger your insecurities, you can discover an inner strength that will get you through practically anything.

Try these ideas to get started:

• Reflect on the tough times you’ve had before. Ask yourself how you got through it. What did you do? What did you think? What did you tell yourself? Your resilience will become evident as you do this    exercise and give you real hope for the future in dealing with other obstacles.
• Recognize that you’ve made it through those difficult situations. Then think about what you’re experiencing right now. Is the current situation similar to or much different from your other tough times? Use what you’ve learned from your past challenges.
• Learn to talk to yourself in positive, encouraging ways. This will help you build up your inner strength.
  • As if speaking to your own best friend, tell yourself what will most help and encourage you. What do you most want to hear? What do you need to hear to help gather your strength? Is there something specific you’re hoping will happen?
  • Practice providing yourself with encouraging, uplifting messages. The messages you give yourself can be less than helpful or they can propel you through the roughest of circumstances.

• Talking to yourself with respect, care and positively builds your inner strength so it’s there when you need it. When the going gets tough, you’ll have yourself to fall back on.
• Allow yourself time to think through whatever the situation is. It’s okay to feel confused.
• Consider who you regard as role models or mentors.You selected those people because you respect and admire them. They’re strong enough people who you want to emulate.
  • What are your ideas about how to weather the storm? Examine all the solutions you can come up with. Explain to yourself what you’ll do and how you’ll do it.

• A sense of your own resourcefulness can be found in your ability to problem-solve through challenging situations.

• Think about their strength of character. How do you know they have it? What does that strength look like? How does it manifest?
• Reflect on what you’ve done or been through that you’re most proud of. Was it making it through college although you had to work while you attended classes? Maybe it was moving out on your own for the first time and figuring out you could take care of yourself.
• Even though you might have felt afraid, uncomfortable, lost, or confused, you discovered your internal resources and made it through those experiences.
• When you examine what you did to handle those situations and how you made it through, you’ll recall your inner strength.
• You can get in touch with your own resourcefulness by re-visiting those events that bring you pride.
• Sometimes, you’ve just got to “fake it till you make it.” You can probably recall a time when you felt afraid or weren’t sure you could succeed, but you stood up and met the challenge head on.

Discovering your inner strength is possible, even in the toughest of times. Following the steps above will help you discover your courage and resourcefulness. And with this self-understanding, you can handle anything!