If you’re anything like me, you often find yourself facing seemingly-insurmountable obstacles on an alarmingly-regular basis. Sure, this could boil down, to a certain extent, to me being a bit of a self-described dramatic; but there are a fair share of concrete roadblocks springing up in my path. It can be tempting, and all too easy, to slip into a state of overwhelmedness when it seems like a problem can’t possibly be resolved. However, there’s an elusively simple-sounding mantra that can prove to be effective in weathering the storm and overcoming what may seem impossible – “It will all work out.”

My mom is the curator of the saying “It will all work out” as I know it, introducing it to me in an attempt to calm me down. At first, it seemed useless to listen to anyone attempting to convince me that the impossible would somehow unravel to reveal a situation that would be possible to work through. It was frustrating even, at first, and I felt helpless and restless in the sense that I wanted to be doing something, anything, to at least alleviate the consequences of the inevitable. Instead, she was trying to convince me that it would be more beneficial, if not logistically then at least in the sense that it would reduce the mental and emotional toll of the situation, to continue to tell myself that whatever was weighing on me would be okay in the end.

I continued to reject the “It will all work out” mantra, and over and over again chose to allow a crushing pressure to overcome me. I refused to trust the process, trust the universe, trust that it would work out, fighting instead to allow myself to wallow in the misery and frustration of the seemingly-impossible. Though it didn’t prove to be useful in any sense, and I was conscious of the fact that it wouldn’t, I couldn’t help but sink into the negativity, choosing just to complain about what I faced and the impossibility of resolving it. This rut can be an easy one to find yourself, and a difficult one to pull yourself out of.

Eventually, very recently, I decided to finally give in and listen to what my mom had been telling me (a tip I would certainly recommend). I was faced with a similar hurdle, and rather than let that same sense of anxiety wash over me, I simply told myself: “It will all work out.” Did it solve it right away? Of course not. (If only it were that easy).

Rather, it allowed me to process it in a different way, see it in a different light, and understand it in a manner that did not cause me to feel that old sense of helplessness. I did what I could, and trusted the rest to take care of itself. Ultimately, that’s what all problem solving and lifelong navigating comes down to – doing what you can in the best way you can, and trusting the rest to fall into place as it’s meant to. Let yourself breathe, know that you can take a step back. Know that challenges don’t have to be setbacks, setbacks don’t have to be failures, and failures don’t have to be life sentences. It will all work out.