You always feel like life is too difficult? How to Cope When You Feel The Way ? There’s no denying that life can feel truly overwhelming these days. If you’re feeling like the challenges you’re facing are too much, you’re certainly not alone. And, likely, your stressors aren’t even related to current societal issues, but they could be exacerbated by them.
You might find yourself pondering why everything feels so hard. Perhaps you’re comparing yourself to your peers and are noticing that they don’t seem to be experiencing the same level of anguish. There can be many reasons for this.
First, everyone’s journey is different. Just because your peers don’t seem to be struggling right now, they may be facing challenges privately. Alternatively, they may simply be in a different season of life than you.
There’s a myriad of factors that can contribute to life feeling singularly harder for us than for others. First, we may be in a developmental phase of our life that involves a big change—because change, even under the best of circumstances, is seldom easy. This could be going away to college, changing jobs, getting married, having children, getting divorced, or even having your adult children move out. Part of why change is so hard is because it involves us changing our behavior.
Research shows that changing our behavior isn’t a linear process. Instead, it is one full of clumsy starts and stops, leaps in progress only to regress to former behaviors quickly. Don’t let this discourage you. If anything, the fact that things are feeling hard in the face of change can be an indicator that you’re working to change your behavior and that is a process that, by design, isn’t easy.
Acknowledging the Impact of Personal Challenges
We’d be remiss to speak about this feeling of life being extraordinarily difficult without acknowledging how personal challenges impact hardship. We all have different circumstances that can increase the intensity of our hardships.
The first is familial dysfunction. If you’re a survivor of childhood trauma, knee-deep in navigating problematic relationships with family members, or are estranged from family, this can feel profoundly challenging. Not only can these factors lead to feelings of loneliness and shame—they can also spike jealousy if you notice those around you have strong familial support.
Another circumstance that can increase the intensity of life feeling hard is interpersonal issues.
We need—and thrive—in community. Without community, we may suffer from social isolation or loneliness. Turns out, social isolation and loneliness can even contribute to adverse health outcomes.
Finally, you might be in crisis, suffering from addiction, abuse, poverty, or chronic illness. These factors cannot be overlooked and inevitably make life feel extraordinarily challenging.
Exploring Societal and External Factors
Financial stressors have only been exacerbated by looming student loans, economic inflation, and whispers of a recession underway. The suppression of civil rights might have you fearing for the safety of yourself and your loved ones.
Such societal factors can be traumatic and lead to life feeling exponentially more difficult. Do not internalize these factors as a personal failure. It is hard to avoid sickness when navigating chronic illness. It can feel impossible to get ahead financially when facing the effects of a recession.
What to Do When Life Gets Hard
So, perhaps you know why life is feeling hard. Now it is time to consider what can help when feeling this way.
When we can face our anger head on without any distractions, we can use the energy to propel ourselves forward, past difficulties and beyond.
Do Your Own Investigating
Rest and Get Support
Finding Meaning and Moving Forward
Consider how you can use your anger, frustration, and sadness to propel yourself forward. Make art that moves others, consider how you can be the helping hand you need to another person, and dig into the storytelling of your life.