Adversity is a time of difficulty. Anything can be considered an adverse situation, whether it’s moving, fighting with someone, or losing somebody to cancer.

There are a lot of different situations that can be classified under adversity, and they all have ways you can positively or negatively deal with them.

One very good way to deal with adversity is to surround yourself with many positive people. Those who you hang out with and talk to most are those who will affect your mood, and how you are looking at the events of your life. Having positive people with you will help you to positively look at what you are facing and will make it easier for you to overcome adversity.

Another good thing you can do is to write things down. It doesn’t have to be written all fancy and super nice, but writing something down in a journal entry or even just a small note will help. It lets you show your personal expression and feelings about the situation, as well as help you look at it afterwards and analyze what you should do. By looking at what you’ve written after writing down what you feel will help you think outside the box of how to fix the problem and understand the current situation that you are going through.

Going out into nature is another good thing to do. Being outside is very therapeutic for the brain and can help you both reduce stress and clear your mind. Adversity brings stress and frustration your way, so going outside, relaxing, and clearing your mind is one of the best things that you can do while in an adverse situation.

You could also start to invest more in yourself. There isn’t anything better to invest in than your own, personal growth and development. Adversity is commonly an excuse used for people to not invest in themselves because change always throws us off, but the best way to get on track is to adjust your life and work on yourself during the times of struggle.

Of course, laughter is the best medicine, so try to find your sense of humor. When you laugh, your brain releases tension and sees things more positively. Finding your sense of humor may seem impossible while going through a hard time, but give yourself a little time and it’ll help you through the difficult times.

Being mentally prepared is also a good way to help. “Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best” (British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli; 1800’s). Having a plan ahead of time in case of any crisis or struggle is a good way to know what to do when those things do happen. If you think through it ahead of time, you’ll react much more calm and and rational, and won’t be as panicky. It won’t be as difficult because you’ll be prepared ahead of time and won’t be caught off guard as much.

During this time, don’t blame others for what happened. If all you’re doing is sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, you won’t be doing any good for yourself. You’ll be sabotaging yourself for coming up with what to do to be able to move on. You should also consider any mistakes you could have made. You’ll need to spend time to process what could have been done differently, and then you can make peace to be able to move on. Accept that you can make mistakes.

Think of the situation as a chance for an opportunity. Hard times often leave you coming out as a better person, all you need to do is take advantage of the situation. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” so push through in order to become that stronger person on the other side. The true secret to success is the ability to make every challenge an opportunity and every struggle a chance to change for the better.

Most of all, refuse to give up. In order to overcome a crisis, you need to commit yourself to pushing forward through it until you make it through. You need to stay determined and motivated to create a mindset to deal with adversity as something that can be solved and overcome, not something or can passively accept. Everybody who is successful has had struggles, but what makes them successful is that they don’t let the struggles or failures tear them down; instead they use them to go further and push stronger.