Day 205

When life doesn't go to plan. When a situation or person doesn't meet your expectations. When you find one of life's hurdles just too big. What do you do? 

Sometimes I stop and just look at the hurdle - a bit like if you have ever completed a obstacle course and you reach a berlin wall that is 3m tall when you stand just shy of half of that. You stop and look at the wall, assess how is best to tackle it, and have a go - if it doesn't work, you stop reassess and try again. There is some point after trying 1, 2, 4, 10 times (depending on the person) where you decide it is in your best interests to just 'go around' the obstacle and continue forward. 

Notice I didn't say 'give up' - it was 'go around'. The reason I wanted to draw your attention to this, is that there is never one way to tackle a hurdle. There are a multitude of ways - although most of the time we look for the quickest, most beneficial to ourselves way. If that doesn't work, we look for the next quickest. In real life, when we reach a hurdle, most of us will just jump straight into finding a solution, without stopping and examining it first. Is the quickest way always the best? 

I have read a lot of amazing books lately and in one of them, it talked about finding a solution that is 'outside the box'. Which is the example I used above. Of course a lot of people would say that 'it's cheating' or 'that's not fair' or 'how lazy'. But if we apply this analogy to real life - does it matter what anyone else thinks - as long as the people involved are agreeable with the solution? 

Often when we look at a hurdle - particularly when it involves another person, there seems to be only 2 ways of doing something - theirs or ours. This is not the case. There is always a solution that can be beneficial for both people and a way that is less stressful and perhaps 'outside the box'. 

I have been faced with quite a lot of these hurdles lately - it is a chance to continually practice what I talk about. Is it easy? No! Is it challenging? Yes. Will the other person always be willing to find a 'outside the box' solution? No. Do you feel better about yourself for offering something or even trying something different? YES! 

So, why not try it. Recognise in yourself when you are in the mentality of 'my way or the highway' and do something different. 

…Until Tomorrow xox