Discouragement, Frustration, And Depression On The Way to Success
What do we do when we feel discouraged, frustrated, or depressed? Most of us want to sit down and feel bad.
We want to quit, at least for a time.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are not welcome in our lives.
I believe they should be.
I have this sort of weird idea that almost everything that happens to us is designed especially for us.
Not that someone it pulling levers to get certain things to happen at certain times to force us to be something that has been predetermined, but just the way that life and human nature are, the lessons we need to learn and the things we need to know happen to us to help us, and we can be successful and happy only by paying attention.
It seems there is little in common between happiness and the emotions of discouragement, frustration, and depression.
But those emotions happen on the way to success, and success brings happiness.
Depression is a very popular emotion these days, and I want to be clear that I am not talking about a medical condition, although I wonder if the depression doesn't cause the chemical imbalance rather than the chemical imbalance causing the depression.
I am talking about feeling depressed, as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders--a temporary emotion related to discouragement and frustration.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are life's way of asking us, "Are you really committed? Do you really care? Are you just puttering, or do you really want something to come of what you are doing? Have you thought enough about this?" Thus, of course, the more important something is to us, and the more that it has the potential to be a really terrific part of our lives, the more that discouragement, frustration, and depression will be part of it, especially at first.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are part of every success.
It's a sort of crisis-of-faith.
Where a real crisis of faith concerns how one feels about spiritual things and God; discouragement, frustration, and depression make us decide how much we really believe in ourselves, our ideas, and what we are trying to accomplish.
So as I say, don't feel too bad about feeling bad.
It's the way things get better.
The one and only cure to discouragement, frustration, and depression is to get up and work.
Do something constructive.
Sitting around feeling bad or crying about things will make the discouragement, frustration, and depression worse.
They feed on indecision and inaction.
The longer we do nothing, the stronger they get.
Don't be a victim of paralysis by analysis.
Don't spend too much time wondering what you did wrong.
Don't live in the past.
Look to the future, and work in the present.
Some people get to the point that they won't even get out of bed anymore.
They won't eat.
That is not necessary.
Get to work doing something that is worthwhile, and the difficult emotions will begin to go away.
Don't do random, useless things.
You know where you're trying to be or what you're trying to accomplish.
If you don't, that could be a large part of why you're discouraged, frustrated, or depressed.
Get busy again on getting to where you want to be and things will sort themselves out.
I've noticed that some of my most productive inspiration has come when I get busy again after a particularly rough emotional patch.
You get out of the briar patch by standing up and pushing through until you are out.
The scratches will fade in time.
Several times in my life when I have been particularly discouraged, frustrated, or depressed, I've come to understand that it is because I'm not doing the things that could get me to where I wanted to be, and only through keeping working could I discover that.
Many times I have picked myself up after feeling crushed, and have gotten back to work only to discover that the thing I felt bad about would not and could not work.
I have made repairs to my thoughts, ideas, and plans and headed out again, and the frustration, discouragement, and depression have soon turned to excitement and enthusiasm.
The last time that I crashed, emotionally, I wrote in my journal that I was regrouping and getting ready to head out again.
I wrote that I hoped that in a few years, if I looked back at that journal entry, I would laugh because everything had worked out.
And every time in my life that discouragement, frustration, and depression have knocked me down, that is exactly what has happened.
We want to quit, at least for a time.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are not welcome in our lives.
I believe they should be.
I have this sort of weird idea that almost everything that happens to us is designed especially for us.
Not that someone it pulling levers to get certain things to happen at certain times to force us to be something that has been predetermined, but just the way that life and human nature are, the lessons we need to learn and the things we need to know happen to us to help us, and we can be successful and happy only by paying attention.
It seems there is little in common between happiness and the emotions of discouragement, frustration, and depression.
But those emotions happen on the way to success, and success brings happiness.
Depression is a very popular emotion these days, and I want to be clear that I am not talking about a medical condition, although I wonder if the depression doesn't cause the chemical imbalance rather than the chemical imbalance causing the depression.
I am talking about feeling depressed, as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders--a temporary emotion related to discouragement and frustration.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are life's way of asking us, "Are you really committed? Do you really care? Are you just puttering, or do you really want something to come of what you are doing? Have you thought enough about this?" Thus, of course, the more important something is to us, and the more that it has the potential to be a really terrific part of our lives, the more that discouragement, frustration, and depression will be part of it, especially at first.
Discouragement, frustration, and depression are part of every success.
It's a sort of crisis-of-faith.
Where a real crisis of faith concerns how one feels about spiritual things and God; discouragement, frustration, and depression make us decide how much we really believe in ourselves, our ideas, and what we are trying to accomplish.
So as I say, don't feel too bad about feeling bad.
It's the way things get better.
The one and only cure to discouragement, frustration, and depression is to get up and work.
Do something constructive.
Sitting around feeling bad or crying about things will make the discouragement, frustration, and depression worse.
They feed on indecision and inaction.
The longer we do nothing, the stronger they get.
Don't be a victim of paralysis by analysis.
Don't spend too much time wondering what you did wrong.
Don't live in the past.
Look to the future, and work in the present.
Some people get to the point that they won't even get out of bed anymore.
They won't eat.
That is not necessary.
Get to work doing something that is worthwhile, and the difficult emotions will begin to go away.
Don't do random, useless things.
You know where you're trying to be or what you're trying to accomplish.
If you don't, that could be a large part of why you're discouraged, frustrated, or depressed.
Get busy again on getting to where you want to be and things will sort themselves out.
I've noticed that some of my most productive inspiration has come when I get busy again after a particularly rough emotional patch.
You get out of the briar patch by standing up and pushing through until you are out.
The scratches will fade in time.
Several times in my life when I have been particularly discouraged, frustrated, or depressed, I've come to understand that it is because I'm not doing the things that could get me to where I wanted to be, and only through keeping working could I discover that.
Many times I have picked myself up after feeling crushed, and have gotten back to work only to discover that the thing I felt bad about would not and could not work.
I have made repairs to my thoughts, ideas, and plans and headed out again, and the frustration, discouragement, and depression have soon turned to excitement and enthusiasm.
The last time that I crashed, emotionally, I wrote in my journal that I was regrouping and getting ready to head out again.
I wrote that I hoped that in a few years, if I looked back at that journal entry, I would laugh because everything had worked out.
And every time in my life that discouragement, frustration, and depression have knocked me down, that is exactly what has happened.
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