How to cope with ups and downs of life
and be resilient
The personal journey from being unemployed to getting hired needs to have two main foci:
1) Awareness of one’s skills, characteristics and targets and
2) knowledge of and coping strategies for one’s emotional and practical obstacles.
The goal of Life Management Skills is to sharpen the participants’ self-awareness so that they
1) become attentive of what they wish their work life to consist of,
2) are aware of what they have to offer to employers and colleagues and
3) are able to cope with the challenges, that life in general and life in unemployment specifically expose them to.
Being unemployed is a crisis and when in the middle of it, it feels infinite and defining for identity and self-esteem. The goal of this element is to broaden the horizon and find strategies for the actual situation by making use of own former experience and other people’s knowledge.
After this process the participants will be able to answer the following three questions:
1) What makes this situation so difficult for me and how do I cope with it?
2) What experience of other crisis and coping strategies do I have?
3) How can I learn from and connect to other people?
Ways to Deal with the Ups and Downs of Life
1. Seek not to know the reason for your unhappiness.
But rather, seek to develop the necessary skills and the right attitude that will help you navigate through the ups and downs of life with peace and serenity. Seek to find the way to your Center – that sacred place within yourself that is always at peace. For in doing so, nothing and no one will ever be able to disturb your inner peace or steal your joy.
2. Be kind to you.
Allow yourself to go through whatever you are going through without shame, guilt, and regrets. You are only human. To be human is to fall down and make mistakes; to get hurt and even hurt others along the way.
3. Do not be fooled by your fears.
Fear is a liar. It cheats, it deceives, and it tricks us into believing we are all alone, lost, and unworthy of the life we deep down inside know we deserve to live. Fear wants us to live in pain, poverty, and unhappiness. And it will do whatever it takes to bring us down to its level.
4. Blame it on no one.
Blame is a thief. It robs you of your power and gives it all away – turning the world into your master, and you into a slave.
To blame another is to see yourself as helpless, and those you have been blaming as mighty powerful. But you are not a helpless victim, and the world is not your mighty powerful abuser.
5. Let healing take place.
The ups and downs of life bring us face to face with the parts of us that are in pain; the parts of us that are wounded and in such great need of love and affection.
When pain comes knocking on your door, it’s not to punish you. But to invite you to make room for healing to take place. It comes to show you the way out of pain and into joy, out of fear and into love, and out of darkness into light.
6. Make peace with your past.
The life you are now living – with its many ups and downs, is the result of all your past thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If there is suffering in the present, the past has not been forgiven.
If you want to heal your present, make peace with your past. If you want to create a better future, forgive yourself and forgive the past. This is how you deal with the ups and downs of life.
Once you’ve read the text on the topic, it’s time to test your knowledge.
Solve the following practice exercises!