How to Tap Into your Ability to Overcome Obstacles

From an early age we are taught to think about our future.

It starts when our parents or other family members ask us, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” For the majority of us, we are then prepared to follow a fairly set life agenda – do well in school, graduate, either get a job or go to college, get married, buy a house, have children… Unfortunately, what this agenda misses are the obstacles and challenges that make their way into our lives, and they also don’t take into consideration the fact that we haven’t even figured out who we are yet, let alone what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing. We’re taught, nonetheless, to set goals and have dreams that we hope we’ll want to fulfill. We are (hopefully) excited about life, and what we want our lives to be like. We start the work to make our dreams a reality. Then,BAM! We run into roadblocks, obstacles and other various setbacks.

An obstacle is anything that interferes with our living a life that we truly desire.

Obstacles are present in everyday life, be it a barrier that temporarily sets us back, stifles our progress, or derails even our clearest visions. They are discouraging and can cause a major loss of precious time and resources. It is essential that we learn to recognize obstacles, and reduce the likelihood of manifesting them subliminally.

Common obstacles that most of us will face in lifetime:

Fear of the unknown. Fear to take a risk. Fear of failure.
Anxiety and stress.
Lack of self-confidence and self-worth.
Being distracted and failure to recognize opportunities when they manifest.
Following the easy path and failure to be imaginative and failure to be creative.
Lack of Planning – fail to plan, plan to fail.

Why is it important to learn how to overcome obstacles?

Obstacles derail us in just about every area of life. They keep us stuck in the past by preventing us from taking action or going the full distance. They keep us rooted in fear, convincing us that we aren’t good enough, we don’t know enough, we don’t have enough time or money, and we’re out of options. If you don’t learn how to overcome obstacles in your own life, you run the risk of being ruled by them.

Obstacles present themselves the moment you set your sights on something you want.

Leaning into these challenges, however, help you to move boldly through the obstacle rather than allowing it to dominate your life. One of my peers once said, “Running into an obstacle means you’re that much closer to achieving your goal.” The point: when we stay small and in our comfort zone, there are no obstacles because we’re choosing to just cruise. There’s another word for it: complacent.

“When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realize that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

How do I overcome obstacles?

Life’s roadblocks can range from a simple pebble in the road to a giant pothole ready to consume you, and we all have different ways of addressing these obstacles. It is, however, important to properly address an obstacle no matter how big or small you may perceive it to be. Just like the leaves that slowly change their color in fall, a small obstacle can slowly change and morph itself into something larger if unaddressed. This is a pattern that is observed in addictive behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, emotional eating, compulsive sexual behavior, etc.

When a challenge or obstacle is presented you may go to the cupboard to get a snack.

This “snack” temporarily relieves the fear / stress / anxiety that you have been feeling. However, you lose self-confidence when you weigh yourself and see you’ve gained a couple of pounds as a result of emotional eating. The cycle continues as you return to the cupboard to help offset the pain of lost confidence. Properly addressing these obstacles at the root cause ensures they do not continue to grow into a larger issue.

First, address the obstacle head on

avoidance is not the answer. A life of distracting yourself from challenges is only a band-aid to the problem. When you avoid, you ultimately deny yourself the ability of being in the present moment. Running from challenges means you are always at the mercy of your fears. Remember, obstacles are the opportunities that have been put on your path to challenge you to move beyond your perceived limitations. Identifying them is just the first step in creating lasting change in your life. The follow-through and taking action to overcome them is where the real gold is. If you are having trouble addressing these obstacles, seeking the help of a coach may be a valuable route to take in your journey.

Have a Positive Mindset.

At times, its necessary to take a deep breath, step back from the chaos and redirect your attention. Avoid allowing the mind to create a negative space of overthinking. Being scattered, cloudy, and unfocused is, in itself, overwhelming. Instead, appreciate that obstacles often serve a role other than to cause emotional distress. What is this obstacle trying to show you? Choose a mantra. Think of a mantra as a seed. If you put the seed in the ground, with proper care and nourishment, it becomes a beautiful plant, flower, or tree. Mantras are a seed planted in the mind. Having a powerful statement to turn to that honors your new perceptions of who you are and what you are capable of before you decide to act is a powerful way to reclaim your power and stay in a positive head space.

Keep It Real.

Sometimes you may not get the outcome you want because the universe redirects you to what you actually need. Begin by assessing your limiting factors. What are the obstacles standing between you and your goals? If you think you never have enough time, for example, create a log and reflect on what you’re spending your time and energy on. Your immediate challenge may be lack of motivation or procrastination; the solution to this dilemma is that you may need to reprioritize. Be honest with yourself. Finding answers to these questions will enable you to create the necessary changes to move forward in a positive and fulfilling manner.

Be Mindful of Your Emotions.

Take a moment to go inward. Visualization meditation can attract your intentions through manifestation. Taking a few mindful moments to go within promotes clear thinking by creating space for unconscious thoughts to come to light and shine through onto your decision.

Break It Down

Breaking down obstacles into bite sized pieces may help you better tackle the issues at hand. Create a checklist to determine what obstacles are delaying you from realizing your goals and dreams. Once you are clear about your goals and tasks every obstacle that comes your way appears smaller and more easily manageable. Take a deep breath and remember to keep your focus on what you can control.

Life is a picturesque journey, full of color and texture.

As you envision dreams, goals for yourself and move towards fulfilling them, you will inevitably find yourself faced with hurdles and encounter unexpected twists and turns. Expect it!

You may even feel stuck or blocked in which direction to go.

Dodging obstacles isn’t possible but finding ways to overcome the notion that you are at their mercy IS. If you view obstacles as the world being against you or as a threat or a sign that you cannot succeed, then you are likely to be overwhelmed with negative thoughts and emotions. Your mindset ultimately determines how you respond to overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals when you hit a bump in the road. It’s the joy and journey of clearing obstacles in your pathway that makes life rich and provides a true sense of resilience and accomplishment when you finally reach your pinnacle of success.

Tris Thorp

An International Bestselling Author, Lifestyle and Leadership Coach and speaker, Tris Thorp is one of today’s leading experts in the field of personal growth and leadership development, specializing in emotional healing, women’s empowerment and shadow work.

Having spent a decade traveling the world, being trained by and sharing the stage with Dr. Deepak Chopra in the field of social emotional learning, consciousness and mindfulness-based practices, Tris has a real gift for integrating the ancient spiritual teachings with modern-day science and mindfulness to help people all over the world let go of their past and create an empowered new future.

During her tenure at the Chopra Center, Tris apprenticed under the Chopra Center’s co-founder Dr. David Simon, co-facilitating the Healing the Heart and Emotional Freedom workshops alongside him. Prior to his passing in 2012, Dr. Simon appointed Tris as the person to carry on his teachings in the field of emotional healing. In addition, Tris was fortunate to be mentored by the late Debbie Ford prior to her passing in 2013, which is where she continued her extensive studies of the unconscious mind and concepts of the persona and shadow. After the loss of her two mentors, Tris went on to become certified through the Ford Institute as a coach specializing in Shadow Work and reconciling mental and emotional issues stemming from past experiences. She continues to share the gifts of emotional healing and facilitating this work in the footsteps of her former mentors.

Tris is the International bestselling author of Healing Your Heart: Rewrite Your Story with Awareness and Intention. A guide book to understanding your emotions, how we create our story and workable tools and techniques to heal from the past, Healing Your Heart stewards you through the process of releasing mental and emotional baggage, forgiving yourself and others, setting and enforcing boundaries and consciously communicating your needs in a loving and effective way so you can be who you’re meant to be, do the things you want to do and have all that you deserve to have in this life.

Tris is also the co-author of bestseller Mental and Emotional Release® with Dr. Matt James. Written in a language both professionals and non-professionals can understand, Mental and Emotional Release® offers real life case studies, an overview of MER and its foundation, step by step scripts to follow, and clinical efficacy studies comparing MER to other therapies.

Clearly in her dharma, Tris’s passion and dedication to gently guide people on their inward journey through personal growth is evident in her work as a Lifestyle and Leadership coach, Trainer of Mental and Emotional Release and workshop facilitator. She teaches various courses on leadership development, personal empowerment, social emotional learning and higher states of consciousness – both in online courses and her certification programs, live workshops, VIP retreats and 1-1 clients.

Tris Thorp is Board Certified by the Association of Integrative Psychology as a Trainer of Mental and Emotional Release ®, Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis, and Mental and Emotional Release ®, a Certified Reiki Master, and an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.

Tris is devoted to inspiring and empowering others to cultivate and maintain mindfulness-based lifestyle practices that lead to greater clarity, purpose and fulfillment. Through one-on-one coaching, online programs and live events, Tris specializes in helping people to fully release negative emotions, limiting beliefs and unconscious patterns, enabling them to make quantum leaps into the life they are truly meant to be living.