Are you going through something difficult?
Maybe a loved one is sick.
Maybe your business is dying and you are on the verge of being bankrupt.
You don’t know where you will get the money to pay for your debts.
Do you feel like it’s already the end of the world?
Have you heard of the saying, “LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME”?
That’s the exact advice that a friend of mine gave me when my one and only Happy Wife, Nove, was hospitalised for 21 days.
Maybe sometimes, we feel bad about this phrase because we feel like it’s so easy to say it but so difficult to do it.
But let me tell you this. This was one of the ways by which I was able to get over times of difficulty, challenge, sadness, and hopelessness.
And I do believe that this is the key in order for your emotional wounds to heal.
So how exactly can we live ONE DAY AT A TIME?
DON’T RUSH
Sometimes we want a quick fix. We want anything and everything that’s quick and easy to do just so we can get past a challenge and solve a problem that we have.
Whatever we do, we can’t rush life. Give yourself some time to recover, cope, and think. The more that you have so many things in your mind, and so many things that you want to do, the less chances you have of actually being able to do what you need to do. Why? Because you feel too overwhelmed. So try to deal things one at a time. You just gotta wait out the process.
REFUSE TO LIVE IN THE PAST
“What did I do wrong?”
“This wouldn’t have happened if only I listened!”
“This is all my fault!”
Saying these things and thinking along these lines tell us that we are actually living in the past.
We have the tendency to keep blaming ourselves for the mistakes of the past.
“What do you mean, Chinkee? Are we not supposed to learn from our mistakes?”
Of course we are. And that’s exactly what I’m trying to say. We should learn from the past, not live in it. There’s a big difference between the two.
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM AND SET A STANDARD
You have to start somewhere. You can’t keep on being problematic and not do anything about your problems.
Think of the steps that you can take to appease your worries.
For example, is there someone who is sick in your family? If yes, instead of you wasting your time and energy thinking, here are the standards that you can set upon yourself:
“I will wake up early to serve this family member.”
“I will always call him up to ask him how he is.”
“I will do something to help them with the medical bills.”
LEARN TO APPRECIATE
Yes, what you are going through is difficult, but that’s just ONE thing. Don’t waste all of your time and energy just thinking about your problem.
Instead of you asking over and over why these things are happening, why don’t you count all the good things that are happening in your life?
Appreciate other things like the smile of your children, your good health, other opportunities that are waiting for you, the love of your family, food on the table, and many other things.
Probably this is what we lack – the ability to appreciate our blessings. We dwell too much on our problems, that we forget to be THANKFUL.
You know, any problem, no matter how big or how small will no doubt be solved by GOd. This is why the other solution to all of our problems is for us to learn to SURRENDER TO GOD and TRUST GOD when it comes to whatever it is that HE WANTS to do in our lives.
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
What problem or challenge are you going through right now?
How will you apply the saying “Live one day at a time” in your life so that you can get past all of your problems and challenges?
(Chinkee Tan is a top Filipino motivational speaker, wealth and life coach whose goal is to inform, educate, motivate, and disturb. His vision is to help people become financially-literate and debt-free. For more info about Chinkee Tan, please visit his fan page at FB, Twitter and Instagram. Also follow VIBER PUBLIC CHAT GROUP search chinkee tan, and VISIONCHINKEE on You Tube for more news and encouragements.)
