Tips to Make it Through the Highs and Lows
“You’re lost and you’re running out of hope / looking for the best way to cope / just know we all been there before / you gotta take the highs and the lows…” Chance the Rapper, The Highs & the Lows
Chance the Rapper released his newest album Star Line last month and it's both a return to form and an illustration of growth and development as he peels back the curtain on significant personal and professional moments in his life. The album also includes the track The Highs & the Lows ft Joey Bada$$ (which was originally released in 2022) and this song is a great reminder that you’ve got to learn to take each. The track is phenominal and a great reminder that good music can also help you to navigate life’s highs and lows.
It’s not uncommon to seek therapy when you’re navigating one of life’s lows. A pitfall I see some clients enter therapy with is that they don’t want to take the lows, they only want to take the highs. Sure, they may start therapy because they’re currently in a low, but they expect therapy to help them achieve a life of only highs and happiness. The problem is that such an expectation is unrealistic and serves as a setup for hopelessness when an inevitable low finally drops.
Life is full of highs and lows, and in fact, without the lows you wouldn’t know the highs when you’re in them. No therapist can equip you to live a life during which you experience no lows! A good therapist, however, can help you take the highs and lows so that you can learn to make decisions which create more opportunities for the highs and so that you’ll be prepared and equipped to make it through the really tough lows. At Future Full of Hope, we believe that you have the internal resources within you to be able to navigate the highs and lows, and we support you to activate those strengths. Read below for some times to help you make it through the highs and lows.
Tips to Help you Take the Highs and Lows
Don’t Forget the Highs: When you’re in the middle of low season it’s easy to focus only on the low, on the problems and pain you’re dealing with. Make time to remember the highs too.
Be Thankful for the Highs: Reflect on the highs and be thankful for them. And instead of living in the memory of past highs, learn from them and replicate decisions that helped you to get there in the first place.
Acknowledge and Accept the Lows: Don’t bottle up your feelings and don’t pretend like they’re not real.
Don’t Keep the Lows to Yourself: Instead of being alone in the low, take a risk and invite a friend, a family member, or a loved one to be with you in it.
Reflect on How You Got Through the Last Low: Lows are inevitible and this likely isn’t the first one you’ve navigated. What did you do to survive the last low? What can you learn from that and apply to this one?
Celebrate the Highs: Don’t miss these moments because you’re looking for the next low - practice gratitude and make the most of the moment.
How Therapy with Future Full of Hope Can Help
Chance is right - you’ve gotta take the highs and lows. Because they exist and because they’re unavoidable. But when it seems like the lows are too tough to take alone, joining with us for therapy may be something that can help. We help you to look for connections between your pasts’s highs and lows, support you to develop coping skills for the present ones, and coach you to enter your future with skills to create the highest highs and to ride out the lowest lows. Follow the link below to get started with therapy today.
Ready to start therapy? Use the form below to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation!
AI Disclaimer: This post is original and written by Kevin Boyd of Future Full of Hope, PLLC. No AI tool was leveraged in the development of this post
