By Henry Ukazu

Dear Destiny Friends,

Challenges come in different shapes and sizes. As rational beings, we do face one form of challenge or another. The challenges can be financial, health related, socio-economic, relationship, personal or even spiritual. The question now becomes how do we overcome these challenges?

Overcoming challenges can be tough, especially if we have little or no control over the situation. However, it should be noted that tough times never last but tough people do.

The world is currently experiencing one of the most devastating and depressing pandemics in recent times-Coronavirus. Globally, many businesses have been deeply affected, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, many people have lost their jobs and the world seems prepared to enter a new normal.

Every challenge we go through can either shape or define or mar us depending on how we handle it. It’s a well-established fact that we must definitely experience one form of challenge or another, but the difference is how we are able to overcome the challenge. Isn’t it true that hard times don’t define us—they refine us?

We can overcome challenges in different ways because we are all wired in different ways and have different thresholds. Globally, many people have lost their jobs as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Many corporate organizations have been deeply affected. Academic institutions have been shut down. Government agencies are nor left out. As a matter of fact, there’s no sector of the economy that is not affected. Even the health sector is badly hit. Many people have lost their lives trying to save souls. But one factor is sure to help overcome whatever form of challenge – hope.

In the course of this article we shall be discussing how we can use hope to overcome challenges.

Despite all these setbacks, some organizations have fared well, e.g.  digital technology and the health sector. This is because we saw the rise in e-commerce, especially as it relates to purchasing masks and other health related and personal products just to stay healthy and safe. In the area of technology, we saw the rise in zoom calls, stream calls, and the rise in using the internet to transact business. In the midst of all these, one thing is certain; some people have expressed hope of coming back stronger while others feel the year and the world has come to an end. I don’t know where you belong, but the truth of the matter is that we are definitely going to go into a new normal because life will not remain the same for a substantial amount of time.

If I may ask, how do you overcome challenges during this pandemic? Are you hopeful that this too shall pass. Can you see light at the of the tunnel or are you among the bandwagon who feels the year, businesses and life will never remain the same again? Regardless of your line of thought, one underlying fact we all have to know is that if you ever lose all options, never lose hope.

Hope is the last straw we should always aspire to regardless of the vicissitudes of life. If you have a business which has been thriving before COVID-19, a great way of strategizing is by improvising a new way of doing business. You may ask, how do I re-strategize? You can do this by asking yourself, how can I meet the demands of my clients. You may want to improvise by thinking out of the box. Let’s say you are into buying and selling of properties, cars, or any business that involves sightseeing, you can do this by sending email or using online tools like zoom call, skype or even stream calls to show them what the product is about. You can even tell them, if they don’t like it upon physical sight, you’re open to giving them back their money.

The interesting thing about business is that clients and customers love to see new products every now and then, this keeps them engaged and open to always think of doing business with you. You can use this trying period to teach or sensitize your customers who are not technological or internet savvy how they can learn new skills which ordinarily they wouldn’t have been exposed to. One lesson I have learned from the difficult times in my life is to always prepare myself for the best and expect the worst, just like COVID-19 has made many people prepare for the future in case there’s another outbreak.

We are all accustomed to the saying, when the desirable is not available, the available becomes the desirable. That’s simply the thought of both great minds who think out of the box and myopic minds who are confined to their comfort zone. However, the unassailable truth is that we always have options for doing any task. Isn’t it true that every problem has a solution. The only problem that doesn’t have a solution exists simply because the right person with the right solution hasn’t arrived.

The power and role of hope cannot be overemphasized. The interesting and inherent power of hope is that it has an underlying message of belief embedded in it. Without hope, it will be difficult to forge ahead in life.

When you truly understand the power and intrinsic value of hope as it relates to your life, you’ll come to the sublime realization of it’s magical power. When you have hope, it will be very difficult for the challenges of life to weigh you down whether in your business, academic, relationship, finance or life in general. Whenever any challenge pops up, just say, this too shall pass; I will come out stronger; there’s always another way of doing it; this is an experience, etc. When you have a firm belief in these words, you’ll literally be amazed to see how lines will fall in place for you.

I don’t know what your situation is at this moment, but my humble message to you is to believe this problem will not see the end of you. You’ll overcome it and come out stronger. This is because loss is not forever. You can do this by remembering the feeling you had when you began the journey. What were you thinking and having the hope to accomplish? Did you have everything in place before you began? Did you meet or ever thought you’ll come this far and be blessed? These are great ways of thinking out of the box with hope.

Therefore, I encourage you to be hopeful by not only believing in yourself, but also in your business and everyone and everything around you, knowing fully well, you’ll be an overcomer. You might not see or imagine it, but you sure can feel the energy of hope spreading inside of you.  

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com