Sometimes situations do not go as expected. A good day may turn bad, everything may suddenly go wrong. Needless to say, it’s difficult to stay calm in such situations. We tend to become confused, panic or even heated by anger. That won’t help you much to get out of the situation though. Handling a bad situation in such condition will just make it worse; you are more likely to make mistakes. That’s why it’s important to stay calm. By staying calm, you will be able to judge the situation wisely and take the appropriate actions.
But how do you stay calm when the situation goes bad? How do you calm your nerves while the world around you is falling down? I believe there are some simple things you can do. Here are 26 tips ; pick the ones that work for you:
- Take a deep breath.
- Do nothing for 5 minutes.
- Take a nap.
- Take a shower.
- Listen to comforting music.
- Listen to natural sounds.
- Play music.
- Share to a positive friend.
- Meditate.
- Ask “What’s the next action?” and focus on only that one thing.
- Go to nature (mountain, beach, etc.).
- Ride a bike.
- Talk about other topics.
- Drink a bottle of water.
- Play games (just for a while!).
- Go eat with someone who is not part of the situation.
- Exercise.
- Read spiritual texts.
- Listen to spiritual audio programs.
- Unplug the Internet.
- Take a cup of coffee.
- Say to yourself, “This situation is not as bad as it looks. Many people have handled situations worse than this successfully.”
- Be grateful for what you still have (instead of looking at what you don’t have).
- Be grateful for what you can learn from the situation.
- Take a walk around a park.
- Smile.
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This is an interesting post. Not all of these are appropriate for my use, but I do use several of these tips in my own life. It is important to take the time to calm down before reacting to a stressful situation. I agree with picking the tips that will help or come up with your own ways of dealing with life’s ups and downs.
This is what I NEED yesterday!! Some blogger said horrible about me in his blog. I almost fight against him.
It is very helpful for me. Thank you.
I change my email address, I hope this comment will success 🙂
Interesting post but I don’t think these tips work in the real world. Of course, it depends on what the situation is but we usually don’t have the time in sticky situations for any of these tips with the exception of the first and the last one. So, between taking a deep breath and shooting off a smile we have to come up with quick creative solution to whatever the situation is.
I would suggest using the time when situations are good to improve oneself so you are ready for those bad times. Yes, we react badly a lot of times but it’s like everything else the more we practice it the better we get at it. Walking away every time from a bad situation doesn’t give us that experience of a bad situation. On the other hand, one can never be ready so… 🙂
I’d say learn to trust yourself and nurture that intuition.
If not, say “wait a minute….”, that buys time too 🙂
Keep up the good work, great site.
If I unplug my internet things get really bad…. 😛
I like sleep or sex as part of my calming routine. But they are not on this list, make it 28 tips!
Actually, sleep is listed as Number 3-“Take a nap”. Sex was not listed so you have a valid addition to this list.
Good list, but could be much better.
These things help you get past the bad situation only on the surface. To *really* pass a bad situation one needs to have a deeper understanding of what caused it, what could he learn from it (“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare ~ Hamlet), how could he apply what he learns from it in other aspects of his life and/or in the future, et cetera.
Anyway, these are very good tips for a more superficial and quick solution!
Kind Regards,
Armand
Brad:
I’m sure stressful situations are inevitable, so it’s important to have a “tool set” of how to respond to it. Everyone can create their own “tool set” which suits their own needs and situations. As you said, calming down before reacting is important. Unfortunately, the opposite often happens if we are unprepared.
Kim:
You’re very welcome, Kim. Bad situations also happen to me every now and then. I’m now learning to calm myself down 🙂
ameL:
I understand that most of the tips do not work well for situations which require immediate actions, but I’m sure that there are many bad situations which do not require immediate responses. Kim’s situation (comment #2) is an example. Of course, everyone faces different situation, which in your case seems to require quick responses.
I completely agree that we should prepare for bad times, and that we need to practice dealing with it. Every bad situation is actually a chance to practice.
KC:
Then maybe you actually need the Internet to calm yourself down, KC 😛
Efrain:
I know the list is far from complete. Sure, you can make it 28 tips 🙂
Armand:
I agree that we need to get a deeper understanding of the cause (plus the other actions you mentioned) to really pass a bad situation. But I guess I can only do them if I calm myself down first 🙂 Calming down is just the first step of handling bad situations. After that we need to wisely judge the situation (which includes the actions you mentioned) and then take the appropriate actions.
I tell myself that I’m in this situation now no matter what I do, so I can be pissed in this situation or I can be happy in the situation. It’s up to me, so I might as well be happy, right?
Yes, Graham. Happiness is a decision, so it is up to us to decide whether or not we want to be happy. Unfortunately, not everyone can consciously make such decision when situation goes bad.
@donald + graham: Interesting points but I’m more inclined to believe that happiness is a state of being as opposed to something we make a decision about. Yes, at moments we can say to ourselves “I’m going to be happy now” and be but on the other hand we are one giant ball of emotions that we don’t have a complete control of at all times.
Its all in the reaction, I think. Bad situations always arise, and most times are out of our control. While we may not be able to control these situations, we can, however, control ourselves. How we preceive and react to the situation is paramount in overcoming it-its a choice.
ameL + harveen:
I think our discussion here resembles that of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People chapter 1 (Be Proactive). We all receive external stimuli from the environment, but we can always choose our response to the stimuli. While we may not be able to control the stimuli we receive, we can always control our response.
In this sense, Covey said, love actually becomes a verb. Love is something we do. Similarly, I believe happiness is also a verb.
[…] In his post 26 Tips to Stay Calm When Situation Goes Bad, Donald Latumahina talks about situations that disrupt us so we “tend to become confused, panic or even heated by anger…. How do you calm your nerves while the world around you is falling down? I believe there are some simple things you can do.” He goes on to summarize a number of approaches that could help with both external and internal challenges. […]
Hey Donald,
Nice list of things to calm an irritated nerve! I practice 1 and 26 frequently if I am in those situation Then I start to look at the positive side of things and evaluate if I could change it. If I could, I change it. But If I could not, then I’ll see if I could do anything to change the situation. If there is nothing anyone can do to improve the situation. I will leave it alone and not be bothered with it. 🙂
Cheers
James
[…] The article that I would like to share with you folks today is called “26 Tips to Stay Calm When Situation Goes Bad“. In this article the author shares 26 tips to calm your nerves in face of a bad situation! Everyone knows that in the heat of the moment or in face of a bad situation, you may not be in the best position mentally to make a sound decision. So if you find yourself in such a situation, try one or more of the 26 methods the author mentioned and it may just do the trick for you. […]
Nice rule, James! I myself am a big believer of Covey’s habit #1 (being proactive) which I think is similar. Among others, it says that we should focus on our Circle of Influence (things we can do something about) rather than our Circle of Concern (things we care but can’t do anything about).
[…] Dealing With Bad Days Published September 13th, 2007 Productivity Yesterday, things didn’t turn out the way I expected them to. Come to think of it, things never happen as we expect them to. We are always in for a big surprise. In case this happens, what do you do? Do you put off the day’s tasks until you feel better? Or do you plod on through out the day, gallantly trying to accomplish your to-do list?Donald Latumahina, an information technology lecturer, who is passionate about personal growth and development, shares his 26 Tips to Stay Calm When a Situation Goes Bad. For more of his articles, visit LifeOptimizer.I wish I had read this list yesterday.My favorites from this list are: 1) Share to a positive friend. 2) Say to yourself, “This situation is not as bad as it looks. Many people have handled situations worse than this successfully.” 3) Be grateful for what you still have (instead of looking at what you don’t have). 4) Be grateful for what you can learn from the situation. 5) Take a walk around a park. […]
[…] 26 Tips to Stay Calm When Situation Goes Bad […]
[…] Donald Latumahina is an avid learner who blogs regularly about personal growth and effectiveness. Read his articles on 26 Tips to Stay Calm When Situation Goes Bad, and How to Develop Your Ideas Exponentially. […]
I always like to go for a bike ride or listen to music in situations like this.
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I don’t really like this advice…….
I just can’t be happy and I don’t think I will ever be able to be happy in my life.
well’ i just want to walk alone and go wherever i want to…
Hi i visit through your article and i really like the content of your article. I was always searching for a site like yours and the points you have mentioned are amazing seriously it is going to help in staying calm.Thank you
My favorite one is the first one I think. Just taking a nice deep breath usually helps a lot. Taking a shower is always relaxing too. Thanks for that info!
ökish
no new tips quite monotnus
anyways not so bad
but sometimes it hurts when u get in this kind of situation like mine,because its embarassing. . .
what happens when the ones you love the most either have turned your back on you or push you to your breaking point?
Cry over it really hard alone in a quiet place,then make sure you get another guy
Nice quotes……really.
It would defiantly be very helpful for guy like me. Who gets panic very soon. I think there could be no other method except these wonder lines.
[…] Tips to Stay Calm […]
..I really appreciate your list. It somewhat shows the beauty of life. The sad part I can’t do that but I will try to some of them. I am in a busy state even though I’m still in school.
..But what you listed are true..thanks
[…] Latumahina nos dejó un montón de propuestas en Life Optimizer. Echemos un vistazo a algunas de ellas. Seguro que más de una puede ser útil en un momento […]
this is really awesome !!!! i tried it and the best part it even works !!!! wow really nice
I don’t know how to control my anger how do you controll anger and stay calm rigth now is a time when i need it damn
I think number 10 is the most practical one in the list. Staying focused and rational is the way out of a bad situation.
this article is really very useful in terms of making a person cool in bad situation and remain focused on his job. some of the steps are really very effective to control the bad situation such as 1. take a deep breath
2. ask what is the next action
3. talk on some other topics
4. drink a bottle of water
5. be grateful for what you can learn from the situation.