How often do you say to yourself: “This isn’t supposed to be happening!”
I used to say it whenever an obstacle happened in my life.
What kind of obstacle:
- An employee leaving for a new job.
- My kids leaving a trail of socks throughout the house.
- My child with an injury.
- My lack of cooking ability.
- My plants dying.
Here’s the thing…anytime I believed “this isn’t supposed to be happening” I only felt worse.
Instead, I’ve found it better to think “this is only an obstacle do I want to overcome it or not?”
More often than not, I want to overcome my obstacles.
And when I’m willing to overcome, I can start being resourceful and figure things out.
Obstacles I am willing to overcome are in the areas that are important to me.
An obstacle regarding my family’s health will bring out the resourcefulness in me. Not so for the socks, though they do need to be picked up at some point.
Obstacles in my business, like an employee’s departure, are something I will overcome. Doing my tax prep is not an obstacle I am willing to overcome, so I have a CPA for that.
Some years my cooking has been an obstacle to overcome and I worked at learning to cook and spent time cooking. Last summer, I was sooo over cooking/feeding myself and the family, I hired someone else to do it. Best money I’ve ever spent!
The dying plants? Well, they’re dead now + sitting in my planter. Not my obstacle to overcome.
When obstacles arise, know you have a choice.
Your first choice is what you make the obstacle mean?
- You can let it defeat you.
- You can argue that it shouldn’t be happening.
- You can use it as evidence of your lack of worthiness.
Or you can realize the obstacle is part of your journey. It will help you get stronger + more resilient as you overcome it.
Your second choice is, is it a priority for you to overcome right now or not?
Accept the obstacles you are not willing to overcome, like my cooking, tax prep or dying plants.
And embrace the obstacles that you are willing to overcome. It will be challenging … but it will teach you so much. You can handle this!
smiling,
P.S. Ready to overcome obstacles in all areas of your life: work, home, relationships, and more? Click here to join me in Dare to Lead™, a courage building program based on the research of Brené Brown.