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Personal growth and development

Overcoming Learned Helplessness

๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ?

Olubunmi

• 3 min read
Overcoming Learned Helplessness
Photo by Attentie Attentie / Unsplash

๐€๐ซ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ '๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ'? ๐…๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐Ÿ‘‡

In a post yesterday, I explained the concept of learned helplessness using the analogy of elephants conditioned to believe they cannot break free from small sticks despite their immense strength. Read my previous post here.

Today let's talk about symptoms and solutions. Shall we?

๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ:

๐Ÿ’Ž You feel a ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ค ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ, which leads to frustration.

๐Ÿ’Ž You ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, so you set your goals really low so that you arenโ€™t disappointed.

๐Ÿ’Ž You have ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ-๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ฆ and struggle with ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ.

๐Ÿ’Ž Your motivation towards life is low and you have ๐ง๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž or direction.

๐Ÿ’Ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  and even when you try you give up easily at the slightest difficulty.

Also, ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ? This may prove to be even more challenging. Discussing your challenges might bring about feelings of guilt, especially when your public persona is the life others aspire to have.

Ok, Olubunmi, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ˆ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ? I have shared five powerful tips in the carousel attached. Please have a read.


Finally, overcoming learned helplessness is a journey, not a destination. This is why you must remember that every step forward, no matter how small, is a testament to your power, courage and potential.

If you haven't been told this today, ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜‚๐˜€! ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ณ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ. ๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต! ๐—˜๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ธ. ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป'๐˜ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚. ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜†, ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ โค๏ธ!

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