After one of the most contentious and challenging presidential election periods we have seen, many of us are feeling unsettled. Some of us feel tremendous fear and anxiety.

Now that the election is over, regardless of whom you supported in the race, we as a nation and as individuals are in a time of great change. How you handle that change, regardless of how in control you feel, can drastically affect your well being.

Rutgers University recently published a study on perseverance. The study focused on how we bounce back and progress from setbacks, and learned that when we feel most in control, we persist in our endeavors. When we feel least in control we are most likely to give up hope.

When we perceive that events are happening outside of ourselves, we may tend to take challenges personally. We perceive setbacks as personal attacks. But when we can see that our reactions to these events are under our control, we can process our uncomfortable emotions by letting ourselves work through them. Then we can choose our response to what is happening around us. We can even choose to accept and possibly find something positive in our circumstances rather than hold onto our anger and lash out with blame.

We all know that what we focus upon grows. If we focus on a peaceful outcome to the unknown, and focus on love for humanity, then we can succeed in creating peace and love. Current challenges give us the opportunity to learn and grow.  We can find new ways to contribute to the greater good, and new ways to present love and peace in the world. When some communities in the world are faced with difficult or scary situations, they join together, hold hands, and sing about unity and peace.  Wouldn’t that be a refreshing and energizing way to make the world a better place?