One thing I struggle with in general is remaining positive, nevermind in stressful situations and solving problems in my role as a peer mentor. I knew I had to make this something I focus on as it will hopefully have a profound effect if I can find some effective tips. A website called ‘Entrepreneur’ helped me to see the stress that I have faced in my life in a different way. It said ‘without those setbacks, you could not have learned what you needed to know and developed the qualitites of your character to where they are today’. Instead of viewing new problems as negative, I should see them as a positive, something I can learn from.
The conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time, either positive or negative and by deliberately choosing a positive thought, you can keep your mind optimistic and your emotions positive. Since thoughts and feelings determine a persons actions,this will help me to move forward more rapidly towards my goals. Another tip I found was changing my language from negative to positive. Instead of using ‘problem’, say ‘situation’, ‘challenge’ or ‘opportunity’. By shifting my perception of an issue to being something I can learn from will hopefully to help me maintain a positive attitude throughout my role as a peer mentor.
By viewing problems as opportunities, I can reduce the burden of stress that accompanies problems and make them less intimidating. Seeing problems in a positive light helps to contextualise the problem, allowing me to think about the effects and potential responses to it, therefore making it easier to break down and analyse. Problems are inevitable and accepting this is arguably the first step towards handling them in a more positive, effective way.
When conducting my research, one thing that consistently came up was the advice of distancing yourself from the problem. Once the initial stage has passed, distancing myself from the problem can help me to think of the problem as a separate entity, totally unrelated to me. My role as a peer mentor sometimes makes me feel a lot of responsiblity for my mentees problems but by taking a step back, I can recognise that there is support I can seek that will help me to solve any issues my mentees have. I will devise a plan of steps I can follow to remain positive throughout my time as a peer mentor.