Stop running away: 6 tips to help you face difficult challenges in life

Unable to handle your workload? Struggling to maintain your relationship? Can’t figure out what to do next? When life becomes difficult, you wish to escape it. Life challenges make anyone want to run away, thinking things will get easier on their own. If that’s your usual approach as well, you may find relief for some time at least. Knowing you won’t have to deal with the day-to-day challenges can make you feel liberated.

It’s understandable why you’d like to take the easy way out. Sweeping problems under the carpet is easier than dealing with them. While this might appear as a practical solution, by doing so, you are deceiving yourself and making things worse. Running away from problems might reward you with short-term happiness, but that’s all there is to it.

Essentially, what you are doing is hurriedly tying up loose ends of your life that have gotten tangled. It will only make your life more complicated as the pending issues will catch up with you and dealing with them will be extremely difficult later. Simply put, running away from your problems is self-sabotaging behaviour.

This is why you need to work up the courage to face difficulties in life at the onset. Taking them head-on may be tough but running away isn’t a solution either.

So how do you deal with such life challenges? Here are a few tips that can help make things easier for you.

Pause and reflect

More often than not, we tend to give in to the fight-or-flight instinct whenever we find ourselves in tricky situations. Without thinking, we react and possibly overreact to them. We become overwhelmed and act in haste. But that does nothing but aggravate the situation. To effectively deal with such life challenges, pause for a moment and reflect. Consider all the steps you’ve taken and what you could’ve done to make it better.

It is better to first understand what’s happening, to take our time to think and reflect, we don’t feel tempted to run away from our problems then. We see the situation for what it is and that lowers the stress helping us prepare mentally to face the problem.

Recognise your behaviour

Running away from problems may give you a moment of comfort, but it is not a long-term solution. Your issues will catch up with you in time. For instance, if you are struggling with a huge amount of debt, ignoring calls from financial authorities is not the solution. It will only make the situation worse.

Avoidance makes the problem bigger. Recognise your behaviour and take steps to deal with it. Otherwise, such behaviour can harm many aspects of your life including your career, relationships or hobbies. Soon you may find yourself avoiding job interviews, social gatherings or even hanging out with friends in an attempt to keep your anxiety at bay.

Embrace the pain

People sweep their problems under the carpet because they are afraid of the pain and the discomfort it’ll bring into their lives. For instance, you want a better job and salary but you don’t want to deal with the uncertainties that come with finding a new one. Or you want to be in a relationship but don’t want to put in an effort. This keeps you from truly living your life as you stay cooped up in your comfort zone.

To stop running away from life challenges, step out of your comfort zone and embrace the pain. Break the shackles holding you back and hustle for new opportunities. Remember, nothing good in life comes easy.

Find a solution

A problem remains an issue until you find a solution. If you are stuck in a situation, instead of thinking about running away from it, take a moment to think about how you can fix it. Do your research and create an action plan that can solve it.

Find out what others did when they faced the same situation and learn from them. For instance, if your problem is being overweight, then the logical solution would be to lose weight, right? Now, you have to develop a plan for it. If you know someone who has faced similar challenges, reach out to them. If not, read about it online. You’ll find plenty of stories.

In the process, you’ll also realise there are enough options for you. You can go for a walk, hit the gym regularly, work out at home, go for a run or change your diet. If the problem seems too big, try to break it into smaller bits. This way, no mountain will be too high to climb in life.

Remove negative influences

There are people in our lives that only see the darkness in the world and infect others with the same negativity. They never encourage or are there in times of need. They may even lead you in the wrong direction and urge you to run away from the challenges in your life.

If someone fits this description, cut ties with them. This way, you’ll be able to get rid of the negative influences and grow into a more positive person, who isn’t afraid to face life’s many obstacles.

Seek help

Don’t be afraid to reach out to your friends, loved ones or mental health experts for support if you find yourself in a difficult situation. Chances are they have already gone through what you are experiencing right now. They can provide you with valuable suggestions that can help you tackle the problem. They can share their thoughts and opinions, which can solve your problems or give you the strength to deal with them.