Overcoming Obstacles

I wasn't going to write another blog post until I got my 15-20 page advertising campaign project "signed, sealed and delivered," but inspiration doesn't wait until the left side of your brain says "go." It typically sneaks in when you're deliberately trying to avoid it. Sneak in it did, as I was lying down for a nap after a really long day at work. Too tired to cook, too tired to think, too tired to even jump in the shower and clean up.

In a way every day seems like an obstacle at my job. You never really know what's going to get thrown at you or what could go wrong. Honestly, when you know you've got an eleven to fourteen hour day ahead of you, each store you have to visit that day seems like it's another mountain. There's a part of you that's not sure you can do it. You're tired, sometimes body parts hurt or go numb, you can't always think straight, and if you're like me, you can get dizzy, unfocused, crabby and just plain exhausted-mentally as much as physically.

But, let's face it-as challenging as it is sometimes from a spiritual standpoint, my job is nothing more than a moderately easy obstacle to overcome. I just tell myself to keep going, it's just another day, it will pass and it's not going to be over unless I go into each store and do what I'm supposed to. Not to mention, I put myself there. If I want to jump out of drudgery, all I have to do is jump.

There's a lot more serious and daunting obstacles in life than a job that can slowly destroy you. I could list some of them, but that seems silly. Silly because no matter what the obstacle is disguised as, what you're really faced with is overcoming your own set of beliefs, perceptions and even your own persona. You have to somehow find that urge within that says what you can't see yet is worth making the climb, despite what your current lens says exists.

No, it doesn't happen overnight. That's part of the struggle. You might be able to grab onto a piece here and there, but not have enough to arrange the entire puzzle yet. You might be putting forth a lot of effort, more than you even thought possible, and not see anything close to the results you were hoping for. At times you think you've already reached the summit, but what you now see is something a little (or a lot) different than what you thought you would.

So you learn that the only thing left to do is to keep changing. You keep climbing because what's the alternative? You're not going to just stop and give up because what you want to see and what you actually do see aren't congruent. Sometimes it's the wanting that needs changing and at other times it's simply a matter of maintaining persistence.

Overcoming who we think we are is simply a matter of identifying what we've attached ourselves to and why. It starts with the belief that we don't have to be anything other than who we really are. No matter who or what that "someone" appears to be, as long as we accept its truth, then the change that we're seeking will eventually materialize.

In terms of all aspects, who we are manifesting ourselves to be is never complete. A little mountain or two that you think is there should never stop you from believing in what could be.