--- title: How to Overcome Obstacles and Adversity in Life description: Learn how to turn negative experiences into positive ones, and overcome obstacles in life with grace in the latest Do It Scared podcast. canonical: https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/ author: Ruth Soukup article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-05T16:23:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:58:03.369Z og:title: How to Bounce Back From Hard Times With Grit and Grace og:description: It's all about your mindset og:url: https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d2e839bd094438/698934b1cf40a80f3ac4ca74/overcoming-obstacles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6473 og:image:height: 3641 og:image:alt: Overcoming Obstacles and Adversity og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Bounce Back From Hard Times With Grit and Grace twitter:description: It's all about your mindset twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d2e839bd094438/698934b1cf40a80f3ac4ca74/overcoming-obstacles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Bounce Back From Hard Times With Grit and Grace > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jul 5, 2018 4:23 PM UTC  How to overcome obstacles and adversity with grace. How to overcome obstacles and adversity with grace. Hero Images—Getty Images/Hero Images by [Ruth Soukup](https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/) ## Ruth Soukup Jul 5, 2018 4:23 PM UTC I’ve learned that in life, and in business, there will always be [obstacles that stand in our way](http://time.com/4872967/gretchen-carlson-dream-challenge/). From mistakes to hardships, it’s easy to let things get us down or make us [feel like giving up](http://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4070299/secret-to-happiness/). When we look in from the outside — or through the lens of [social media](http://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pmvTCgJyJMFvJ2Z1cNnzTG?domain=time.com) — it’s easy to assume that other people have it easy compared to you. You might ask yourself: Why aren’t my friends struggling like I am? Whether you want to admit it or not, there’s even a part of you that’s [really, really jealous](http://time.com/4358803/jealousy-envy-advice/). But [life is rarely as perfect](http://time.com/5305955/anthony-bourdain-kate-spade-death-envy/) as social media portrays, or people let on. At some point, everyone faces adversity; adversity is part of everyone’s life. It’s how you [bounce back from these hard times](http://time.com/3002833/how-to-be-resilient-8-steps-to-success-when-life-gets-hard/), however, that really defines you as a person and will ultimately [determine your happiness](http://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4856944/secrets-happier-life/). One thing I’ve learned is that it’s always our biggest stumbles that lead to our biggest lessons. For every mistake or misstep you make, there’s a golden opportunity waiting on the other side. We can’t control the unfortunate things that inevitably pop up in our lives, but we can control how we react to them. In this week’s [Do It Scared podcast](https://doitscared.com/), I share three mindset shifts that can help you turn your breakdowns into breakthroughs, and help you look at negative experiences as positives ones. _Ruth Soukup is a_ [_New York Times bestselling author_](https://ruthsoukup.com/about/) _and the founder of_ [_Living Well Spending Less_](https://www.livingwellspendingless.com/)_. You can listen to her sage advice on life, career and parenting on episodes on her new podcast,_ [_Do It Scared_](https://doitscared.com/)_, above._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/"},"headline":"How to Bounce Back From Hard Times With Grit and Grace","datePublished":"2018-07-05T16:23:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:58:03.369Z","description":"It's all about your mindset","url":"https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/","keywords":["Living","advice","motto","Evergreen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d2e839bd094438/698934b1cf40a80f3ac4ca74/overcoming-obstacles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ruth Soukup","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ruth-soukup/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1d2e839bd094438/698934b1cf40a80f3ac4ca74/overcoming-obstacles.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Overcoming Obstacles and Adversity","caption":"Overhead view woman working","creditText":"Hero Images—Getty Images/Hero Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5329669/how-to-overcome-obstacles/","name":"How to Bounce Back From Hard Times With Grit and Grace"}}]}] ```