As you may have noticed from some of my previous posts this year, 2025 has been a tough year for me. Today, however, I’m not going to complain and recap about all the bad things that have happened. Instead, I’m sharing my go-to methods for powering through those hard days in hopes that they will help someone else who is struggling.

Method 1: Pour Your Heart out to God… Anger and All

Fellow Christians, when we’ve stumbled into hardship or trouble, the first place we should run to for help is to God through prayer. However, that’s not always easy, because when hardship and trouble come, strong emotions do too.

Despair. Hurt. Frustration. Anger. Grief.

And sometimes, when we’re battling these emotions, the last thing we want to do is talk to God, especially if we’re upset because He allowed the event(s) to happen that caused us such emotional turmoil. We may believe that, because we feel a certain way, we’ll say something out of line to God and He’ll be angry with us and make us suffer more. I know that’s contrary to what the Bible says, but hey, that’s how our flawed, human minds think sometimes. The truth is that God wants a personal relationship with us, and personal relationships often involve conflict and hurt feelings. Without opening up to God and hashing out what we’re going through with Him, we’ll just end up hardening out hearts toward Him and only hurt ourselves more in the process.

Maintaining a dialogue, however, helps restore trust. What better way can we learn to trust God than to give Him all our emotions and ask Him to help us sort through them?

A few days after my favorite uncle (I know I’m not supposed to admit that, but I did, because he was the best) passed away earlier this year, my aunt (his sister) and I saw a post on Facebook featuring Matthew 11:28-30:

 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

-Matthew 11:28-30, KJV

My aunt told me it was her favorite scripture. In the following weeks, I saw those same verses pop up several times in random places, but practicing what the passage preaches was the last thing I wanted to do. A few other issues I was dealing with played into my frustration with God, and while my belief that He’s real and He’s in control didn’t waver, I heavily questioned why He allowed such bad things to happen, and why everything I prayed for ended up being answered with the opposite outcome.

The only thing that has helped me edge out of grief and that rut with God was to finally open up to Him. And when I did, I let Him have it. For a few months straight, every time I cracked open my prayer journal I was so frustrated I could spit nails. I complained. I fussed. I cried more tears than I could count. But the main thing is this: I poured my bleeding heart out to God and He took it and slowly but surely helped me mend and learn to trust Him again.

So, come to Him all of you who are going through hard days, and allow Him to give you rest. It may not be instant. It may take a while. But trust me, it’s worth it.

Method 2: Delete Social Media Apps from Your Phone

It’s harder to get quiet and commune with God when we’re distracted, and social media can often become a maladaptive coping mechanism when we’re going through tough seasons. In previous tough seasons, I recognized that Facebook had become a maladaptive coping mechanism for me and would delete the app off my phone for a while, only to end up adding it back later because I feared I’d miss out on something.

The problem with this was that the real issue was never fully dealt with. I had an unhealthy addiction. When Facebook was back on my phone after my uncle passed away, because I was sharing posts about grief and other issues I was struggling with, Facebook continuously recommended more posts about those same topics. I often found myself mindlessly scrolling for a “fix”, some random suggested post that would speak to whatever I was down in the dumps about that day so I could share it on my feed. It sounds stupid, but I doubt I’m the only one who’s done that. In fact, social media is designed to keep us scrolling for hours on end, even at the expense of our mental health.

Back in May, I found a solution that stopped this downward spiral in its tracks. I decided to delete the Facebook app from my phone again and started reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. In the book, the author describes the compulsive use of certain technologies, apps, or sites in the following way:

“Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.”

Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

The “detrimental consequence” of Facebook, for me, was allowing myself to get caught up in a cycle of negativity based on the content I consumed there. Thankfully, Newport offers a simple, yet effective solution: keep the app off your phone and, if you absolutely have to, access Facebook on your personal computer. And yet, as simple as this advice is, it was groundbreaking for me. For whatever reason, even though I was a teen in the early 2010s, back when we accessed Facebook on our computers rather than on smartphones, it had never occurred to me that I could revert back to that method of accessing the site. So, for the past two months, my phone has been free from Facebook and my use of the social media site has dwindled dramatically (praise the Lord!). Since I only get on my personal laptop a couple times each week, I’ve only checked Facebook a few times since implementing this change, and usually it’s for no more than 10 minutes.

Have I missed anything important by not having immediate access to the app 24/7? Nope. And I haven’t regretted the decision for a second. If you’re in a similar spiral of addiction with social media, please implement this method to protect your mental health during those hard days. You’ll thank me later!

Method 3: Give Yourself Grace… And a Break

Last but certainly not least, when we’re having an off day or season of life, one of the best things we can do until we’ve jumped the hurdle of hardship is give ourselves grace, and adequate breaks. Now, I’m not meaning intentionally letting weeks’ worth of laundry pile up when we’re mentally and physically capable of taking care of it or calling out of work just because we don’t feel like going in. Even in tough seasons, we still have responsibilities that we need to fulfill. What I’m referring to is learning to recognize when you’re hedging on burnout territory and taking intentional breaks or rest days to allow yourself to slow down rather than pushing yourself to your breaking point.

The thing is, this isn’t always easy. You may have several kids who are relying on you while your spouse is in the hospital with a critical medical issue. You may be the sole child of an ailing parent who has no one else to take care of them. Sometimes, we can’t slow down for that break, but we can still give ourselves grace. How do we do that?

Here Are a Few Ways to Give Yourself Grace:

1 | Tell yourself “you’re okay”. Repeat these words over and over again, if you must. For me, this phrase helps ground me when my anxiety is spiraling, and reminds me that I’m still here, I’m still breathing, and God is not done with me yet.

2 | Stop striving for perfection. If you’re going through a hard time, it’s perfectly okay to take a step back from relentlessly chasing your goals. No one will look down on you for taking a couple days off from writing your novel or taking a temporary hiatus from your painting while you take time to regroup. And if someone does, they’re not someone you need to take criticism from anyway. We all need breaks. Otherwise, we’ll break down.

3 | Be kind to yourself. Ultimately, don’t beat yourself up for not “measuring up” to whatever standard you’ve created in your mind during this time of struggle. Instead, please remember you’re here for a reason. You matter. God loves you and has plans for your life. And this hard season, no matter how never-ending it may seem, is only temporary.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

I pray that this post helps someone who is struggling. If you have any additional methods for powering through tough days, please drop them in the comments!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀