NaturallyResilient

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Yesterday I mentioned the two methods of handling obstacles. One was to be persistent until you worked through it, the other was to give up and move on to something else. The dilemma was how to know which type the obstacle was.

Actually, the two reactions are not often mutually exclusive, they can work together. A passion may lead you down one path and you hit a brick wall. You try to punch through it, that doesn’t work. You try to jump over it, too tall. You try to dig under it, tunnel keeps caving in. You try going around it and it seems to go on forever. Then you step back to look at the wall again, take a deep breath and consider how to tackle it next. That is when you notice a door in the wall! It was there all along and allows you through with little effort!

But what if you step back and don’t see a door or a window or a ladder? That is when you consider how important getting to the other side really is to you. Maybe this is the sign to move on. Is there something else you are just as passionate about that you have let slide? Look for the other opportunities around you that don’t have to do with the wall. Something just as interesting may be just over your shoulder.

This has happened to my husband many times. He says he will keep butting his head against a brick wall and when he finally comes up for air, there is a window staring at him. This window is usually a different opportunity, something that will take him in a different direction that he would have never noticed if he had not come to the impassable wall.

You don’t even have to totally give up on the wall problem. Time may crumble the wall and allow you easy passage through it later.