When I was a kid I hated hurdles, to me there was no sense in having to jump over them. I have had to learn how to face and overcome obstacles in order to move forward.

I was too afraid to jump over them so I started going around the hurdles. The fear was crippling, it took siege of my heart and mind. That was the day when I saw hurdles as constructs and I got into the habit of going around things instead of facing them. I believed if I dared jump over the hurdles I would fail. I saw them as roadblocks that I couldn’t jump over so I had to cheat to play the game. The older I got the more emboldened I was by the idea until I realized I had been playing catch-up all along. 

I believed I had figured out the secret to facing my obstacles, but I hadn’t. I just knew how to cheat. You know that saying cheaters never prosper, I thought it was bogus. An old wives tale that scared you into following the rules. Now I realize that cheating the game can only get you so far. Obstacles as much as we hate to admit are inescapable. Believe me, even in absolute luxury, you have obstacles. Money can only take you so far, but if you don’t have the keys to facing your obstacles, you will keep having your progress hindered. 

We often see obstacles as external forces, but they can also be internal and habitual forces.  Habitual forces such as stress, overwhelm and anger takes time to overcome. You have to learn how to face and overcome them if you want to thrive in life and most people don’t do this. What I listed below are some of the best ways to face and overcome obstacles.

Understand Your Obstacle

My obstacles were more internal than external, I battled with demons that ridiculed and pestered me. Words so jarring it left me hollow, days were spent staring at the ceiling, wondering what the purpose of life truly was. I struggled for years, dealing with my own inadequacies, crippling fears and the pain that kept pushing me to the edge. I didn’t understand that I was depressed and suicidal. To me, I was surviving and that is what mattered.

Every obstacle you face stems from past experiences and that is why it hinders you the way it does. The only way to deal with it is to actually access why it has this amount of power over you. Some obstacles are of course worse, but there are ways to deal with it, as long as it doesn’t stop you from pushing forward. 

Your obstacles are either driven by external forces; natural disasters, economy, your social circle, and physical limitations or by internal forces. These are your beliefs, losing weight, fear, your past experiences, pain and the list goes on. You have to understand which one drives you the most because it is here that you can understand how to face and overcome the obstacle.  If you want to face and overcome your obstacle then you need to understand it. Only then can you beat it.

Devise A Plan

Life happens when you are making other plans, so it goes. You can’t plan for everything if that was possible there’d be no obstacles. But things happen when you least expect it. However, when you are dealing with an obstacle it helps to come up with a plan on how to solve it. It doesn’t have to be a master plan. It can even be a few steps you take so you don’t have to go through the pain of an obstacle. Some obstacles are so powerful that they can even destroy you. Don’t mean to be macabre, but a lot of people go through obstacles that leave them feeling numb. One of my favorite motivational speakers is Nick Vujicic who was born with tetra-amelia syndrome. Every day he was overcome with the obstacle of living a life without arms or legs.

Nick Vujicic had to overcome all three obstacles and there were times in his life where he wanted to kill himself. If it wasn’t for his family telling him he was good enough, he might have given up or allowed his condition to prevent him from achieving anything, but he didn’t. This rare condition in itself was an obstacle that most people fail to face because the world is usually painted in black and white.

It wants us to believe that you have to look a certain way to achieve success, to live in a certain country to have a better life or be an anomaly to be a success story. That is far from the truth, Nick is an example of someone who refused to allow any obstacle to stop him from reaching great heights. Nick faced his obstacle so he could overcome it. He had to devise a plan in order to execute it. Don’t throw away the plan it will help you face and overcome the obstacle.

Also Related: 7 Life Skills To Sky Rocket Your Success

Reflect Your Successes and Failures

 Reflection is an integral part of growth and yet it is underutilized, probably because it is seen as something that philosophical people do. My first year of college I was taught reflection and it changed my life for the better. I saw it as a tool to understand where I was on my progress ladder. We all have these ladders of progress, depending on the person it can have different levels. There’s the bottom rung where you start, this could be the first day of kindergarten or college or even your job. The next rung is the next step you want to take or took. The way your ladder looks depends on who you are as a person. Some people have long ladders while others have shorter ones. It all depends on who you are, whether you are ambitious or more altruistic. Your ladder is a reflection of your dreams, ambitions, and hopes. 

Most of us have successes or our failures as rungs. That might sound counter-intuitive, but failures as well, as our successes define, who we become in our life. To many people, failure is seen as obstacles, but there are teaching points that you need to reflect on. For example, I had stage fright. Every time I was on stage my heart raced, my palms would sweat and my knees would shake. I choked on my words, but despite the fear, it never stopped me from actually stepping onto that platform. And I was overcome with embarrassment every time I did. That was my failure when I went to college, I knew I had to overcome that fear.

I did. It took a while, but I knew that I had to do it. It was important that I did. When you reflect on your failures as painful as it is, you are more willing to try again. When you reflect on your successes you understand what you did right and can repeat the same formula. Reflect on your successes and obstacles so that you can face and overcome the obstacle. 

Work at it

One of the most beloved children stories is Jack and the Beanstalk because it has great life lessons. It is about a kid who struggled with self-discipline. Some would say Jack was lazy, but it was just that he lacked self-discipline. It isn’t the easiest thing to get a handle on, there are days when you don’t want to work at all. We all go through that, but what I have learned is the easy way isn’t always the best. As hard as it gets, you have to work at it.

Procrastination is the killer of dreams and the reason why most people aren’t where they are. Devising your plan is only one step, but you have to carry it out and work at it. At first, it will feel weird, but with time it will get a lot easier for you to do it. You can only overcome your obstacles when you actually follow through and work on it. This might be hard at first, but you have to remember, limit your distractions, improve time management skills and push through. This stage you might feel stuck, so you need to go back to your checklist and look through what tasks you wrote down.  

If you don’t work on your obstacles you will be unable to face and overcome it. 

Visualize Your Success

Obstacles get the best of us because we don’t visualize our success, we don’t see ourselves overcoming our problems and that there is the problem. For every problem, there are two or more solutions. So it isn’t impossible for you to overcome your obstacles. To rise to the top and actually be your own success story. When you focus more on the future than your problems, it will be a lot easier for you to deal with the cards that you are dealt with.

When you visualize your success, you increase the dopamine and that is a very good thing. Dopamine is the hormone responsible for happiness so therefore you are likely to get a positive attitude. So this is an easier way of improving your life. If you are positive then you attract good things in your life and even when you face obstacles, they don’t have as much of a hold on you. I used to be a negative person and when an obstacle came my way, it felt like the world was ending. When my attitude changed, I looked at life differently. 

There are times when you have to choose the easiest way to improving your life. You don’t have to be like a character from a Telenovela in order for you to achieve success. Sometimes all it takes is changing your mindset and attitude to change your life. I am not saying this is the master solution for all your problems and obstacles, but it will make it a lot easier to face your problems if you have a positive attitude. 

Remember visualizing your success is the best way to face and overcome your obstacle. When you focus on where you will be days, months or years from now, it will give you the courage to face and overcome the obstacle. 

Also Related: 5 Ways of Helping You Visualize Your Success

What is your main takeaway from this and what obstacles have you had to deal with? How did you deal with it? Comment below.

                                                              Keep Pushing                                           

                                                             Vanessa