Sometimes life can be hard. A lot of the times life is great (whether I acknowledge that or not), but sometimes life can be hard.

I get frustrated with work. I feel let down by people. I feel kind of useless. I get overstimulated. I shut down. I stress. Worry. Doubt. Freak out.

Sometimes life is hard.

Sometimes I want to just crawl into my blanket fort and color. But I can’t. That’s not real life. So what do we do when life is hard? When doubt plagues our minds? When freaking out just happens?

Recently, Disney and Pixar released “Finding Dory”. If you haven’t seen either “Finding Nemo” or “Finding Dory” you need to do yourself a favor and watch these movies. In Pixar’s latest movie, Dory is trying to find her parents. Through adversity, whirlwind adventure, uncertainty, and sheer doom she searches and searches. Just when all hope is lost, a light shines on everything and Dory and her parents are reunited. Throughout this movie, and “Finding Nemo”, Dory has a phrase that she uses to motivate herself in times of trouble.

Just keep swimming.

When she feels lost, confused, and uncertain she just keeps going. She doesn’t stop. Doubt, danger, and fear don’t stop Dory from her journey. Sure, they create detours, but they do not stop her. I know I watch these movies and think, “Yeah that sounds nice. Just keep going. But that’s not real. At some point I can’t keep going. It won’t be worth it.”

There is truth to that. Sometimes you do have to reevaluate the course you are taking. But you don’t stop going. Every step that you take brings you closer to something. It may not be exactly what you planned, but that doesn’t make it bad.

Just keep swimming.

How do you continue to persevere when life is hard?

1. Don’t go alone
   • When Dory accomplished her most effective travels she had friends around her. We all need company and community to spur us on sometimes. So, when you are trying to persevere through the tough times of life, find people to go with you.
2. Be ok being uncomfortable
   • Sometimes persevering means that we have to do things we don’t like. It could mean taking risks, doing things we’re not good at, or any number of countless things. But the important thing is to know that sometimes you just have to be ok being uncomfortable. Life isn’t going to be easily accommodating, so don’t journey like it should be.
3. Keep the main thing the main thing
   • When you are traveling, persevering, swimming, or whatever the best thing you can do is to keep what is important to you in sight. Keep the main thing the main thing. Have goals in mind. Know your values and virtues. Find people who care for you. The way to keep going is to have something to aim for.

What do you do when life gets you down?

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…

– Mitch (and the LifeSuccess.com Team)