Obstacles

Life will always be life, in which case, life comes with circumstances that are beyond our control and in the face of personal changes; life also comes with personal obstacles that stand in our way. I think if all fairness, before facing a personal life change; it makes good sense to understand what the obstacles are. This way we can have and a strategy to navigate our way around whatever obstacles we face.

What is an obstacle?
An obstacle is anything that gets in the way of our path. An obstacle can be physical or chemical; it can be emotional and equally, and obstacle can be imaginary, which, in the case of our imagined obstacles, —this makes it even harder to navigate around them because the threat of them is insurmountable and unknown. In the dictionary, it says an obstacle is something that hinders or obstructs progress.

With many people, the biggest obstacle is our belief system and the subconscious programs, trained opinions, and the learned ideas that we have lived with for most of our lives.

In the face of personal change, it is often accurate to say that we can be our biggest obstacle.
Self-confidence is perhaps the biggest and most threatening obstacle. This is tough to overcome. The lack of belief in ourselves will not only hinder our progress, but oftentimes, the lack of inner belief will keep us from even attempting to move forward.
There are cases in life, in which people understand that change is necessary; however, in the same cases, there are those that cannot change their ways simply because they cannot believe nor could they see themselves living any other way. They have no vision of them living any other way; therefore, no other way is possible.

Anxiety is another dream killer. To be anxious; to be worried, to be in the constant or frequently periodic sense of threat in one form or another is above all, one of the main distractions in personal improvement.
It is difficult to improve when everything is underlined with stress or the struggle with panic and the crippling episodes of panic or anxiety attacks.

Rejection is another distraction. Rejection is in the internalization of outcomes that did not go as planned. This is to internalize the “Supposed” refusal from others. This can be a temporary setback or meeting that did not go as planned or an interview that did not result in the desired benefits.
This is when we internalize outcomes and place them with the ideas of fault or blame. This obstacle can be a tough one as well.

I have different compilations of my journals. One of which is called, “Bedtime Stories for the Insomniac,”
I came up with this titled because insomnia can be a tremendous obstacle. Sleepless nights will often equal frustrations to come in the day ahead. Sleeplessness makes it difficult to think clearly. We tend to find even the easier tasks to be complicated. This effects mood and performance, which, if this goes poorly, this will also lead into the rejection category.

Diet is also an obstacle. We need to feed ourselves, which is obvious; however, when times are busy or money is tight —or say, after a long day, thinking about anything simple is hard enough, let alone, eating a beneficial meal, which, let’s face it; the way we feed ourselves is equal to the way we treat ourselves. We need to treat ourselves properly.

Anger stands in the way of progress. So does frustration. So does fear and insecurity. The emotional spins we set upon ourselves leads to the reason why people will often say, “I am my own worst enemy.”

The self-critic and self-deprecating ideas we have limit our potential output. The idea behind understanding the obstacles we face and the triggers which enable them is to be prepared and have a plan to not only navigate around the concept of obstacles but to remove them as well.

In most cases with personal change, the obstacle is self. The idea is to look for the sweep; to find a countermove, and to create a new way of thinking. This way the imaginary obstacles won’t be imagined anymore.

I keep this in mind because in my own changes, I have had to learn this about myself. I have to understand that anything can be overcome in one form or another. I just have to decide to be determined. I have to define my motivation and allow my inspiration to push me forward. This way, all of my obstacles are behind me.