If there is a journey to be had, there will be obstacles as well, you can pretty much count on that. Everyone’s obstacles will be different because I believe the obstacle is there to grow us, we are supposed to learn from it and we each have different areas of strength and weakness.
An obstacle is a thing that blocks one’s way or prevents or hinders progress. Do you ever feel like your progress is being hindered when trying to achieve something new in your life or when trying to live life more?
One recurring obstacle to people like us, the ones who want to experience all there is to in life and in this big, big world is others who just don’t “get it”. The people who we love who find their greatest joy in the comfort zone. Hear me, there is NOTHING wrong with residing in the familiar and loving it, it just doesn’t fit me, at least not at this season in life, and I don’t know if it ever will. There is something I find appealing to my parents simple life in the same little town all their lives and the predictability of it all, but that appeal wears off so quickly that I know I wouldn’t be happy any longer than it would take to get my boxes unpacked.
Right now, we are in a season where everything is day to day, we threw a bunch of balls in the air and now we will have to wait to see when and where they land. Job, sale of a house, moving the kids, finding new housing, etc… it’s all in the unknown right now, this could be seen as an obstacle. The somewhat scary part to that, is the balls can fall out of order and we can be left trying to reorganize our lives to fit accordingly. So we may be faced with some situations or obstacles that will be less than ideal on the way to the goal and will we choose to embrace them as an adventure or cry that things just aren’t working out how we would have liked?
Another obstacle many of us face when we have a journey is finances. Sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be enough, or not enough for everything to go the way we would like it to. Sometimes there are even tough choices to be made to make sure that our journey can happen. You know what? I would rather be broke and fulfilled, than rich and empty. Money is a tool, it will come and it will go, but being truly happy and fulfilled is priceless, so I believe you have to go after your dream and live out your journey and make what money you do have work for you vs. spending all your life just working for money.
There are so many possible obstacles to living out your dreams. There could be health issues, aging parents, debt, fear, little kids, older kids, grandkids, jobs, the list could go on forever and will be a bit different for each of us, but obstacles can be overcome, they don’t need to hold you back, that is your choice.
When I have an obstacle I first try to look at it objectively and ask myself some questions. One thing I know is life is full of choices and when you ask questions you can choose an answer and move forward.
1. Is this life threatening? If yes, maybe I need to redirect my attention to my life threatening obstacle and rectify that situation before I move forward. Or maybe I accept that this could be where my life story ends and I move forward anyways.
2. Is it something I created? If yes, I take responsibility for the issue I have created and work on a way to correct it or accept it.
3. Is my obstacle just trying to distract me or is it a real problem? So many times I make a small issue into a big obstacle. Only give your issues the space they deserve and not a centimeter more or they will start to fill up all the real estate in your head and render you useless to move forward. Choose your thoughts wisely they will direct your path.
4. Can I do anything to change it? If not, support/accept and move on. There is a whole world of things that happen to or around me that I can affect and change and then there are an equal number that I can’t change. Death and other people are the two that stand out to me the most as the things that I can not change.
Death of a loved one is painful to us that are left behind but our loved one moved on (to their NEXT life) and we need to move on too.
And other people, we just can’t change them. Boy we want to, we want them to see it our way, agree with us, give us what we want, make us feel good, act better, whatever it is – you can’t change them. Choose to love them where they are and move on.
5. Do I want to change my course because of this obstacle? Sometimes the answer will be yes, and that is okay. No path is written in stone and most often there are many forks in the road that you can choose from. If you decide your obstacle is worthy of changing course for a while or forever, it is okay, as long as you own that choice without blaming the obstacle.
Here’s to your journey, to overcoming your obstacles and to living life more!!