We have to put on a brave face pretty often. You could even say we’ve had to put on a brave face during most of 2020. It’s been a pretty tough year, and for some, the toughest they’ve ever had to find.

It’s easy to want to focus on the negative when things get tough, but you owe it to yourself to find a way to persevere through the situation you’re facing. You need to figure out ways to navigate through the tough times to reach the good times.

Take a look at these five ways to get through some of the toughest times.

Focus on the good

Even in the darkest of times, you can probably find at least one thing you’re happy about. To do this takes some self-reflection and acknowledgment that maybe the situation you face isn’t the end of the world.

If you’re struggling with this one, start by making a list. How you approach this list will vary, but you might find that listing everything you’re struggling with first to be beneficial. If you can get through all of the negative, it will help you find something positive.

It helps to think about a close relationship or achievement you’re proud of.

Once you find that one positive thing, keep circling back to it. Keep a memento around that symbolizes the positive memory or experience and look at it often.

Find ways to relax

When you’re in panic mode, you’re probably not thinking about ways to relax. Yet, when you take some time to reset and not think about the current struggles you are facing, you may end up finding things aren’t as bad as they seemed. You might gain a new perspective and start to figure out solutions.

Find activities that work for you. Some people find journaling or reading a book relaxing while others find activities like getting a morning massage beneficial. Test the waters and see what works.

Practice healthy habits

You don’t think or act at your best when you indulge in bad habits like eating copious amounts of junk food or indulging in drugs or alcohol, so try adopting healthy habits.

In order to get through tough times, you need your body in good condition. Focus on exercising on a regular basis and eating healthy foods like fruits and salads. You don’t have to go overboard and become a health fanatic, but you should incorporate some healthy activities into your daily routine.

Connect with people

It doesn’t do you much good to face your challenges alone, so work toward building and fostering good relationships.

While it’s difficult to have real-world interactions right now, you can still use online methods to engage with people. Social media can help as well as online messaging devices like Skype or Zoom.

Embrace the challenge

As farfetched as it seems, sometimes it helps to embrace the challenges that come your way.

There’s only so much worrying and despair you can feel before you decide to confront the challenges we face.

What might be crazy to think about is you can thrive during difficult periods. Facing new challenges requires you to think in new ways to find a solution. You learn to adapt, and you might end up in a better place than when you started.

Tough times happen, and it’s pretty common to face new challenges daily. Even the best of us struggle under pressure to find solutions to our problems, and sometimes it feels like our problems are so big nothing can be done.

We are tested during the tough times, and sometimes we don’t like what we see or find, but there’s always a way to improve a situation. We don’t have complete control over the circumstances we face, but we do have control of our actions. We can find things we can do to make the situation better and adopt strong, positive mindsets.