You can’t control everything. Stressful situations are a part of life. But what you can control is how you respond to stress. People often overgeneralize. When one or two problems arise, you may often think everything’s going wrong. But what you need to do is put the situation into perspective.

In other words, you need to see the situation clearly. Is everything really going wrong, or are most things okay with just a couple of problems? Test the accuracy of your thinking by listing what is not working out. You will probably come up with some things, but not everything. Also, you will see that other things in your life are going right.

Now that you’ve put things in perspective, you’ll see things more clearly. Maybe you have two or three problems, but 10 things in your life are going well. This is gaining perspective. Try reframing your situation by looking at it from a different angle. Write down your problems and your thoughts about them.

Challenge each thought for accuracy. Are you really useless at your job or are you just having a bad week? If you change your beliefs, you change your outlook. If you work at changing your beliefs and your attitudes, you can even change the way your brain works. By looking at your situation in perspective and reframing, you will feel less stressed.

You will feel more in control and less burdened. By failing to see your situation clearly, you create a reason to worry and stress. So make sure you look your situation squarely in the face. See it clearly, and then change how you look at it. Remember when you have faced similar challenges and how you coped with them.