Every single student is facing challenges in school at one point or another. What separates the “winners” from the “losers” is the strength and resilience of getting back up after a fall.
University time is a very special moment in anyone’s life. The way I see it, university time represents the middle of our professional journey. During university, every student must figure out what they actually want to do in life. This is the time when excuses are no longer accepted, a time when maturity is right around the corner.
To overcome a challenge means to accept the fact that there is an issue, a conflict, or a problem. Life is full of obstacles, and nobody can avoid that. Nevertheless, what everyone (especially students) can do is seek ways to properly perceive and resolve those challenges.
In today’s post, I’m sharing 7 ways to overcome difficulties, challenges, and setbacks during university time. Pay attention and apply!
Perceive Your Challenges as Gifts
Every challenge that comes in your path arises for a good reason. Whenever “problems” arise, you have the opportunity to improve yourself as an individual. If you ignore them or agonize over them, the same problems will “hit” you again and again up until you find the courage to face them.
Start perceiving all your obstacles as precious gifts to evolve and life will no longer be a struggle!
Understand the Pain and Pleasure Mechanism
If you didn’t realize it by now, all you’re trying to do revolves around two main instincts: gain pleasure and avoid pain. That’s how our brain works.
If you understand this simple fact, you will be able to leverage your willpower and personal power to move beyond your impulses. Stop avoiding pain…accept it and analyze it, or better yet – embrace it!
Seek Your Real Purpose in Life
There are many education and technology trends that simply come and go. What you have to realize is that your life purpose has nothing to do with professional occupations.
A true purpose is to constantly work on a cause that resonates with you. For example, some people’s purpose is to improve the life quality of animals. Others want to revolutionize education. My purpose is to explore the subconscious mind and understand as much as I can from it.
What is yours?
Practice Compassion and Gratitude
Try starting every single day with a one-minute session of gratitude and compassion. Think about everything that you’re grateful for. Your family, your health, your qualities…the fact that you’re smart…the fact that you have both hands and both legs attached to your body (unlike other people), and you’ll immediately feel a huge positive difference in your attitude!
Train Your Willpower and Self-Discipline
When I was a university student, I used to procrastinate a lot. Every time I delayed a complicated assignment, my quick solution was to leverage a custom essay writing service online, so my biggest challenges were basically outsourced.
When I got my first job, which involved a lot of deadlines and reports, I could no longer avoid the challenges. Unfortunately, I got fired in a matter of weeks because my disempowering habits and the lack of writing skills were impossible to fix in a short period of time.
Lesson learned. Self-discipline and willpower are key to both personal and professional success. I have eventually understood that both of these aspects can be trained and improved. Many people think that you’re born with a fixed amount of willpower. That’s not true!
Willpower is a resource that can be enriched, just like concentration. The more you practice it the more you grow it!
Understand that Everything in Life is Temporary
Your thoughts and emotions come and go, just like your experiences and problems. If you’re in a dark place during university, if you don’t find your path, simply take a deep breath and think about how different life will look like in about a year. Then think about the future again…imagine yourself in ten years. Can you even do it?
The moment you think about the big picture the moment you’ll be able to exit your negative thought cycles!
Gain Inspiration from the Ones You Admire
You should start researching biographies of highly successful individuals that you admire. Pick one or two role models and read about their problems. Understand that every single person has problems, and it’s mostly the successful people who treat their problems with the right attitude.
When you do that, it’s like you’re able to take a fresh breath. Also, remember the things I’ve mentioned above – every challenge is a blessing, while every struggle is temporary unless you avoid it!
Takeaways
Obstacles in school, obstacles in high school, obstacles in college…can you notice the pattern? There are obstacles everywhere you look and go. Accept it. That is the nature of life.
If you make a conscious choice to become stronger and wiser, you’ll no longer perceive your challenges as problems but rather as precious opportunities to evolve. Take our tips and tricks into close consideration and embrace the hustle right away!
BIO: Connie Elser is an independent content publisher and essay writer who never sits in one place. She’s currently a nomad, traveling across countries trying to figure out her real purpose. In her free time, she gets involved in various non-profit movements and consumes a lot of psychology books.