Overcoming Obstacles – When Life’s Pesky Problems Arise.

Obstacles, roadblocks, detours are all things that keep us from reaching our goals but sometimes obstacles can also be beneficial to us. Sometimes life gets so overwhelming, and we feel like after each turn there is something else that is blocking or prohibiting us from reaching our goals or destinations.

What do we do when our circumstances seem much too unbearable to make any progress? Here are a few things that have helped me in my journey:

Changing My Mindset: Let Me tell you, that is much easier said than done. Most of my life, I was my own worst enemy spewing negative remarks at myself if I couldn’t complete a task in the manner, I wanted or in a way I thought it should be done. I remember when I was at an extremely low point in my life, I had lost everything house, car, job I was staying on a friend’s floor with my children and didn’t know what was next. I was caught up in negative self-talk and self-deprecation until someone finally said, “what is really going on?”, and reminded me that I couldn’t get anywhere being my own worst enemy. After that I started searching how to change my inner dialogue and found that repetition and daily practices such as affirmations, would help me change that negative self-talk and complaining.

Being Open to My Options: By becoming self-aware and changing my mindset it allowed me to no longer look at obstacles in a negative light’ I realized they weren’t definitive blockages; it just means that there are other routes to try. If one thing doesn’t work, something else might and if nothing works then we must understand that maybe that entire path isn’t meant for us. A brand-new opportunity may arise that we didn’t even know we need.

Championing My Resiliency: Obstacles help to build your resiliency and courage. It helps us realize that even if we lost everything, we could still have an amazing life and if we press on, we already know what didn’t work. Obstacles builds us up stronger if we lean into the loss; it also builds our confidence in ourselves to know that no matter what happens we are smart enough, strong enough to still press on that gives us hope.

Redirecting My Focus: Obstacles also helps us to be able to better focus on what really matters to us. When we are uncertain and lack clarity on our purpose, it makes having obstacles feel like mountains. I learned to sit down and map out my goals to be clear on what I wanted to attain and how I would make it happen.

Journaling: I’ve learned to write down my limits and question the difference between my limits and my limiting beliefs. Once done, I make an action plan. Journaling has also helped me develop some problem-solving skills by seeing my obstacles from various angles.

Life is full of obstacles may arise out of nowhere, embrace them as learning experiences. Allow yourself to grow through them as you go through them.

-Regina Green