Maybe your car broke down and you don’t have enough money to pay for repairs. Or your pitch wasn’t accepted and you spent hours working on it. Or you recently broke up with your partner and you’ve run out of ice-cream. Then Trump gets elected.
And think to yourself: “The whole world’s gone to shit and I don’t know how to fix it!”
I hear you. All of us go through bumpy periods when we have no idea what to do next. We feel small and useless. Things that were simple tasks before seem hard and pointless. It feels easier to give up and stop caring. But I’m here to tell you there’s another way.
“When nothing goes right turn left.”
But this is harder said than done sometimes. So I’ve pulled together the best articles to help get you moving again.
Ted Talks To Watch When the World Is All Too Depressing
“Among all the horror and tragedy it’s important to remember that there’s people out there working to make the world a better place; some with grand outlandish projects and some in their own special little way.”
From the power of handwashing to a Saudi women who dared to drive, these Ted Talks will give you hope when all you feel like doing is pulling the doona over your head.
9 Real, Actionable Things We Can Do About Trump
“As cheesy as it sounds, we can sit with someone different at lunch and ask them about their weekend. We can attend neighborhood festivals and celebrations we’re less familiar with – Somali Independence Day, Dia De Los Muertos. We can strike up friendly conversations at the bus stop. We can put ourselves in situations where we’re not surrounded by people who are exactly like us.”
Trump was elected on a platform of fear but not everyone who voted from him is a bigot. Understanding where different people are coming from will help us process how we got here.
10 Things Successful People Do When Things Go Wrong
“Successful people are not going to give up that easily. If X went wrong, it does not affect Y which is the hallmark of their success. They are adaptable, resilient, and determined to go on. That means having a plan B ready.”
We’re made to believe that some of us have the Midas touch but in reality we all fall down sometimes. It’s how we pick ourselves up and keeping going that really matters.
9 Ways to Cope When Bad Things Happen
“Whenever something bad happens to us, it’s easy for us to practise self-victimization. We ask ourselves: ‘Why is this happening to me? Why am I so unlucky? Why doesn’t this happen to anyone else? It’s not fair!’”
Accepting that bad things will happen allows you to remove the emotion and focus on what you can control. However, nothing’s wrong with chucking a minute-long tantrum when your computer deletes your files as long as you move past it.
History Tells Us What May Happen Next With Brexit & Trump
“But a defining feature of humans is their resilience. To us now it seems obvious that we survived the Plague, but to people at the time it must have seemed incredible that their society continued afterwards.”
History tells us that dark times are normal. But more importantly we always manage to get through it and even come out stronger.
Featured image from Pexels.