Many are times we are faced with catastrophic events that make us wish the earth could open up and swallow us.

It could be a financial crisis, a nasty breakup, an unwanted pregnancy or worse; a murder case.

Nonetheless, the human soul is much more resilient than we can fathom. Of importance is how we choose to approach adverse situations.

Here are few tested and proven ways to go through challenging times and come out stronger.

Take responsibility

From time to time, everyone slips up and shit happens, whether intentionally or not.

When we mess up, the first step should be to take responsibility.

Trying to shift blame to others can only make matters worse and you may come with an egg on your face.

Instead of looking at mistakes as failures, identify lessons learned from the experience and use them to avoid repeating the same mistakes in future.

Stop digging the hole further

Once you acknowledge that you’ve messed up, the next thing to do is stop making matters worse than they are.

Stop lying to cover up or repeating the very mistakes that got you into the sticky situation in the first place.

Instead, apologise for your mistakes and actively seek remedies to the problem.

Focus on the positive

Irrespective of how tough a situation may seem, there is always a positive or two to take home.

The best way to overcome adversity is to shift focus from the bad that is happening to the good things in your life.

It could be your beautiful baby, a successful project, a loving relationship or whatever brings the shine to your world.

Focus on it and thank goodness for the same.

Accept inevitability

The older you become, the more setbacks you experience and the more you realize they are part of life and in some cases you can do nothing about them.

Accepting adversities as normal vicissitudes of life helps you spend less time moping and feeling helpless.

Draw inspiration from the past

That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

It is very likely that this is not the first crisis you are facing. You can, and should draw inspiration from the fact that you went through hard times and still survived.

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You have always found a way out, no matter how bleak the situation felt. What reason could therefore make you think you will not survive this? None.