5 reasons why frustration is a good thing.

Be frustrated. It’s a good thing! You don’t hear many people telling you that, but it’s true. We often think something is wrong with us because we’re frustrated and displaying “bad character”. But frustration is actually your friend. Don’t run away from it or bury it. Listen to it. It’s trying to tell you something and if you learn how to listen to it and figure it out, it will actually become something that propels you forward in life. I have to keep reminding myself of this because I hate being frustrated. It always takes me awhile to realise I need to listen to that frustration because it’s trying to indicate a problem I need to solve. My initial thinking is always to think there’s something wrong with me or that I’m under some kind of “spiritual attack”. Last week from Saturday morning to Monday night I was extremely frustrated about a particular issue. I didn’t even realise I was though, I just thought I was grumpy and having a bad week. I wasn’t very pleasant to be around for Kylie and the kids. But I had a breakthrough on Monday night when it finally dawned on me that I was actually frustrated about a particular issue happening in my life. That frustration led me to research something which completely solved my problem. All this week since identifying and solving the issue I have felt incredibly relieved, empowered and clear about what I need to do, as well as excited and hopeful about doing it! Not only did I solve my problem but creative idea’s and solutions have been pouring through my mind ever since. Even though for two days I had felt awful, I was reminded that frustration is a good thing because it does five very important things in our life and I want to share them with you.

1. Frustration shows you that you’re hitting the ceiling to your next level. Frustration is a sign that something is hindering you from breaking through to you next stage of success, whatever that may be for you. It could be in your business, your marriage, working relationships, a project, with your kids, finances, Church growth, getting healed and so on. If you can solve that frustration, you will go to your next level. When a pot plant out grows its pot the roots get frustrated by the limits of the pot and the plant reaches its ceiling of growth. To solve the frustration simply replant it in a bigger pot and that plant will continue to grow. It’s so simple. Don’t run and hide from frustration. Don’t pretend it’s not real or happening and don’t think there’s something wrong with you. Face it, deal with it and you will go to your next level of success.

2. Frustration shows you what your passions are. If you learn to listen to them you’ll actually start to get a clearer picture of what your purpose in life is. So many people don’t know what their purpose is. Well what frustrates you? What things do you see that are wrong in a situation that no one else seems to see, and you just can’t handle it but must fix it straight away? Those things are indicators of what drives you and makes you tick. Ask yourself, what are you frustrated with and why? Then use those answers to put a picture together of your purpose in life and let that help direct you in some of your next decisions and what to get involved in.

3. Frustration shows you that you’re still in the game. If nothing frustrates you then you have given up in life and have check out. You’re just going through the motions now. You should at least get frustrated by that and use that frustration to get back in the game. Find out your passions in life and go after them. Some people try to work frustration right out of their life as though they’ve attained some godly level of holiness. All you’ve done is attained a level of boredom and dullness in life with no challenge or sense of achievement. That should frustrate you. If it does, that’s good! Use it.

4. Frustration teaches you how not to do things. Frustration is an indicator that something is not being done right. The results you are getting in that area are not what you are expecting. There is a reason for that. Perhaps you are doing something wrong, or neglecting something and so the situation is being frustrated. This frustration can teach you about what not to do. There is no point getting angry that it should be working when it’s not. Rather, find out what is being done wrong and discover a better way to do it.

5. Frustration drives you to find a better way. Frustration is an intense dissatisfaction with a situation that must change. The process is not great but the results are. The frustration that I had from Saturday to Monday was extremely unpleasant. I was vexed, angry, annoyed about my situation. I had to find a solution. I knew something was not right. All of those feelings drove me to do some research and in that research I found the cause of the problem as well as the solution. This gave me a glorious breakthrough and when I spent time in prayer on Tuesday morning the flow of creativity and idea’s regarding my situation was almost too much. Joy had returned, my zest was back and excitement and hopefulness was growing. I feel clear, focused, empowered, relieved, happy and full of pep!

I want to leave you with a final thought, and that is to make sure you diagnose your frustrations correctly and get to the true root cause of them. Only then can you go about solving them, and this only if you do it in a healthy way. This does not include complaining, whinging, whining, gossiping, slandering, fighting and causing trouble and division because you’re not happy about something or someone. That will just make your frustration get worse. Rather analyse your frustration. Do you really have a right to be frustrated about that thing? Is it really what you are frustrated about or is it actually something else? If you don’t solve the root cause you will never solve the problem or go to your next level. Sometimes we direct frustration at other people when in actual fact it’s something in us that is unresolved and that person may just be triggering it. Getting angry at that person and causing trouble is not going to solve your issue and is a waste of time and energy. Sometimes the biggest hurdle is finding out your real frustration. Once you’re done that, the solution generally manifests itself quite easily.

So what’s frustrating you at the moment? What do you think it’s trying to tell you, and what do you need to do to solve it?

Do you have any other insights about what frustration can teach us? We would love to hear about them as they may be very helpful to others. Please join the conversation in the comments below and let your voice be heard.

God bless you and may you have a great week solving all your frustrations!

Ryan Rufus.

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