How to Overcome Obstacles and Keep Moving Toward Your Dreams
This is a love note that I wrote to readers at the end of my book, Vision Board Magic about facing challenges on the way to achieving your goals. I’m sharing it with you today in case it’s something you need to hear. ❤️
I added some links and images, but otherwise this is an excerpt.
Overcome Obstacles as if It’s Your Mission
I want to write a love note to you, my dear friend and reader, about the obstacles that may present themselves from time to time and seemingly come between you and your dreams and goals.
Sometimes these obstacles are external; sometimes they are internal.
Either way, obstacles are part of the process.
You do not need to welcome them, but you should expect them.
They are part of your own personal hero’s journey that you embark upon when you pursue a dream or goal. They are part of life itself.
The obstacles you are asked to face and overcome are how you learn and grow. They are how you become who you need to be to live your dream life, fulfill your purpose, to help others, and to participate fully in this intricate web of life on earth.
As Ryan Holiday shares in his brilliant book, The Obstacle Is the Way, some of the world’s most successful people, businesses, and ideas faced tremendous obstacles in terms of personal, societal, or situational resistance. They became successes because of—not in spite of—the specific ways they reacted to these obstacles.
You don’t have to be inventing the light bulb, changing the world order, or building the next FedEx in order to embrace this idea.
You can use it in everyday life and with even the smallest of goals.
Just understand that there will be hurdles and complications, but this does not mean that it’s time to give up. Sure, you can sit down and reassess your values, goals, and situation and make sure that you’re following the right path for you right now.
But if it does feel like the right goal, path, and time (don’t forget, you get to be the one to decide that), then figure out how you’re going to handle the obstacle.
You can find a way around it.
You can choose to chip away at it.
You can overcome it somehow.
You can figure out a way to become bigger than it.
You can make the obstacle smaller or even irrelevant.
You can use money to make it disappear.
You can ask for help with it.
You can choose to ignore it.
And yes, you can always decide to give up.
With a little soul-searching and creative brainstorming, you can decide how you would like to respond when faced with an obstacle of any kind. This is your life, your journey, and it is entirely up to you what you choose to do when faced with an obstacle, a roadblock, a challenge, a setback, or a failure.
Sometimes what we think of as an external obstacle actually originates in the mind. Much of our reality is shaped by our beliefs, fears, internal dialogues, and interpretations of what has happened, what is happening, what should happen, and what we think or fear will happen. Everything we experience is filtered through our minds, which are shaped and influenced by family, society, education, and religion. They are also shaped and influenced by the events that have happened in our lives up until now, including early childhood events that we may not consciously remember.
There might be a lack of self-confidence (internal limitation) involved if people are not signing up for your program after a free trial session (external setback). In that case, you might need to work on becoming more confident through practice, alignment, patience, and excitement in addition to addressing the root cause of your lack of self-confidence.
The real issue might be a lack of self-love if getting dumped by your boyfriend tears you to pieces. Your job in this situation is to learn to be more compassionate with yourself. This might require working with a therapist to uncover beliefs rooted in childhood as well as learning to trust and love yourself.
It might be a poor money mindset that shows up in your life as an empty bank account and credit card debt. Your job, then, is to learn to overcome this lack-based mentality and to feel abundance and gratitude for everything you have in your life while also learning money-management skills.
When you think there might be an internal obstacle in your way, do your best to identify it and then think of ways to learn from it, work with it, and overcome it.
This might mean working with a therapist, counselor, coach, or support group.
This might mean picking up a book, such as The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown.
This might mean working on your thoughts and beliefs through journaling and affirmations.
This might mean identifying a habit that you want to develop, making an action plan, and using a daily habit tracker to help you stay consistent.
The internal obstacles can be the trickiest to identify and work with, because we often do not see our own internal limitations clearly.
But if you come up against an obstacle to achieving your dream or goal, then I invite you to consider embracing it as a sign of work that you might need to do right now. It might require time, effort, money, and even discomfort, but consider that this could be the work that you are faced with on your life’s journey, not just as you pursue this particular goal. And if you fail to address it now, it may come knocking on your door again and again until you finally confront it and overcome it.
I say this with love and compassion—a message from one imperfect human to another who has faced many such obstacles and continues to face them and do the work. I do not know what your challenges are or how they show up in your life. But I know that you have them. And I can guess that at least some of them will require inner work of some sort. Doing the work to surmount these obstacles will have a transformative effect on your life just as it has on mine.
* * *
I have overcome many limitations and obstacles in my life and continue to work on others. I used to think of myself as a seriously flawed, broken mess of a human. Yet I still had dreams and goals. And with each desire in my heart, and each goal that I worked toward, I found I was asked to work on myself. Slowly I chipped away at limiting beliefs, crippling fears, and self-sabotaging behaviors. And bit by bit I have become healthier, happier, more balanced, more excited about life, and more authentically fulfilled.
If I had been faced with an extensive self-work list when I was at the depths of my most depressed, messed-up self, I would not have been able to face it or do the work. I would have turned the other way.
But when I had a dream to work toward and a vision board to guide me, I found myself able to walk toward the light (or, depending on the day, crawl). I had both a reason and the motivation to address personal issues that came up along the way.
I have faced major challenges, including clinical depression, a debilitating eating disorder, a poverty mindset, and a deep sense of unworthiness.
At the same time, I graduated from a top liberal arts college despite dropping out of high school, authored award-winning books that have helped many parents around the world foster their children’s creativity through art, bought my dream house even though I initially could not even qualify for a small credit card after my divorce, and more.
I still have other issues that I am working on, but I no longer consider myself a broken mess of a human.
I just consider myself human.
I may have more issues than some people. And less than some others. It does not make me any more or any less capable or worthy of achieving or receiving what I desire than anyone else (even if it has taken me decades to acknowledge this for myself). It is not a competition or scoresheet. We are each on our own paths with our own dreams to chase, our own truths to live out, our own mountains to climb, and our own demons to face. All we can do is pursue our dreams with faith and face our obstacles with courage. And continue living this one incredible life that we have been given, pursuing that which lights us up and facing down the darkness with resilience when necessary.
The magic is in the personal transformation that happens as you become the person who can do and have what your heart and soul most fervently desire.
It’s also in the journey along the way.
I wish you an amazing journey as you live into your dream life.
xo,
Jean
This post is an excerpt from my book, Vision Board Magic: A Practical Guide to Manifesting Success, Happiness & Abundance. If this message spoke to you, you’ll find even more guidance, tools, and inspiration in the book to help you clarify your what you desire, stay aligned with your dreams, and grow through any obstacles on the path.
Vision Board Magic: A Practical Guide to Manifesting Success, Happiness & Abundance
More than just a feel-good project, vision boards can be powerful tools for intentional living. Vision Board Magic will show you how to dream boldly and take aligned action with confidence. Inside, you’ll find five unique vision board projects, creative exercises, and practical strategies to help you design a life that truly reflects who you are and what you want.
