Whether you are experiencing a form of trauma or an ordinary struggle you can feel overwhelmed.

It can feel like you have no control over what’s happening. Only you have control over how you respond.

Getting help is the first order of the day. A true-blue friend I can always count on to give me the right advice.

Differentiating what things are your responsibility and what aren’t yours to take on is imperative.

One: just to be kind and gentle toward yourself will go a long way in helping you feel better when you’re going through a setback.

Two: it could help to break things into what I call “bite-size chunks.”

Three: That is to do only what you need to do in any given moment.

Making it as convenient as possible to have a healthy routine is the key difference in helping me feel like I’m in control.

From FreshDirect online I buy single-serving packages of Gaea olives for a snack.

Instead of having cereal for dinner when I can’t cook I heat up a can of Amy’s Organic soup like Lentil or Chunky Tomato Bisque or Split Pea.

On nights when I have no energy at all to cook I order from a restaurant that has salad and vegetables and seafood on the menu along with organic chicken.

As hard as it can be to see a way out of what’s going on this is precisely when I think that setting a realistic goal or two can help.

Key word in that sentence: realistic.

In coming blog entries I’ll talk about setting goals again.

Having a goal to set your sights on can make the struggle bearable.

As Viktor Frankel wrote in his book Man’s Search for Meaning:

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Frankel was the founder of logotherapy that focuses on healing through meaning.

He was a holocaust survivor.

Whatever you’re going through I’m confident that each of us can persevere and get to the other side victorious.

It’s not going to take a couple of days or weeks. It might take longer. It might take a year or longer.

Yet remembering that you have something to look forward to can keep you going.

In a coming blog entry I’d like to touch on the concept of healing through meaning as well.