"Hardship makes the world obscure." - Don DeLillo

It's sad to see that hardship still exists at large in this world which is full of abundance. There are many people whose daily existence is surrounded by lack of money, enormous debts, ill health and all kinds of sufferings.

What makes it worst is when these people who are facing misfortunes have developed learned helplessness. They think that they have no control over situations. They have lost hope to turn their lives around.

Though most of them may not agree, their afflictions are self-induced. They are brought about by many years of self-defeating thoughts and unwillingness to work on their personal growths. Prolonged exercise of bad habits and the wrong attitudes about work, life and people contributed to their present difficulties.

You can, if you make a firm decision, to turn things around. As long as you are alive, you must keep on doing your best and do all that you can. You should never give up hope, even if you are afflicted by an illness.

What can you do when you are faced with hardship?

• Think of what to do next.

Knowing what went wrong is good. It'll help you avoid making the same mistakes. The very next thing is think of what you can do.

Look at where you are now and what you have left. Start from there. Don't wait for the right time because it won't happen. You have to make things happen.

• Raise your standards.

Raise your standards and demand more from yourself. Develop a strong purpose that will help you pull through.

Make a decision to alter your health, your finances and your lifestyle. Write down in detail and specifically what you want to experience from now on. Don't let your past failures and mistakes deter you from dreaming of something better.

• Follow up with an action plan.

A plan will guide you in moving forward. Make a bit of progress each day and do it every day. Do not neglect to do the things that you must do.

Remember that you are where you are now because of what you did or didn't do. You have to develop self-discipline. Your life depends on your new disciplined actions.

If you don't know where and how to get started, subscribe to Jim Rohn's one year success plan. You will be provided with weekly lessons and guided on what to do and how to do them.

• Embrace change.

Change is essential. You have to change your ways because they have not helped you. You need to join a different crowd and gather new knowledge.

Who and what you already know are insufficient to help you grow and get out of your calamity. Make the move and take action even if the thought of changing scares you.

• Rebuild your confidence.

Recall the moments that you have succeeded in the things that you have set out to do. Develop a strong belief that you are going to make it through again

Have faith. Affirm positive thoughts. Never, ever give up on yourself no matter how bleak things look at the moment. You have to fight whatever is holding you back.

• Use your imagination.

Mickey Ingles stated that imagination is the cradle of dreams and success. It widens the horizon of the possible. He further said that your imagination is a tool you can use to bring solutions to your problems.

You have it with you all the while but you have allowed it to come out with images without your conscious effort. Because you have been seeing sufferings in your mind, you live it.

Make a commitment from this day to deliberately imagine the life that you aspire to experience.

You don't have to go through a life of sufferings endlessly. It doesn't make you holier. Allow yourself the chance to live life fully and to experience happiness as much as you can.

No one can help you make this happen. You have to do it yourself.

If you've been sick and tired of your continuous hardship, listen to this free MP3 audio message from the masters of personal growth.

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