Facing Life’s Challenges

“Be the kind of person who dares to face life’s challenges and overcome them rather than dodging them.” – Roy T. Bennett

On the surface it may seem easy to dodge problems, to ignore them and hope they will go away, or sweep them under the rug and hope no one notices they are there…and it’s true that for a time pretending the problem isn’t there may make life easier…but what isn’t addressed only grows…  

Mold in the back of a closet may be hidden, but unaddressed mold will spread and grow quickly and the next thing you know it has damaged the health of all the people living in the house.  One apple rotting in a barrel can be easily covered up by placing healthy apples on top of it, but covering it up doesn’t keep that rotten apple from emitting gases that will be absorbed by the rest.  While that bad apple may be visibly hidden, the decay is still spreading to all the other apples in the barrel. 

Facing challenges isn’t easy – in fact it can be downright unpleasant.  But not facing challenges allows them to grow and spread and with that the decay and the damage will only worsen with time.  What may have started as something small enough to sweep under the rug ends up growing into something so large and out of control that ends up on display for the world to see. 

Standing up to the bad guys, admitting your own mistakes or weaknesses, facing life’s challenges, whatever they may be – is worth it!  Because the payoff of doing so is the strength you will feel from knowing you had the courage to take it on; the confidence that will come from knowing you were willing to stand for what’s right; the respect and trust of those good people who saw you were willing to uphold your values; and most of all, the inner 

peace you’ll feel from knowing you acted with integrity.  

Focus On What You Can Control

“One of the happiest moments ever, is when you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change.”

There are a million aspects to life that are out of our control. And focusing on things you can’t control is absolutely pointless…no matter how much you focus on them you can’t control them so why waste the energy?

Success comes when we stop worrying about those factors and things that are out of our control and instead focus our attention on all those things we can control.  You can’t control the outcome of a situation but you can control your effort, so focus entirely on your efforts. Some examples to illustrate this are:

You can’t control how someone else feels about you but you can control how you feel about others, so focus entirely on treating others with love and acceptance.

You can’t control if your business will succeed or fail but you can control your efforts, so focus entirely on working hard and being dedicated to the business and treat your customers with honesty and respect.

You can’t control if your superiors at work will treat you well but you can absolutely control giving 100% in the job you were hired to do, so focus entirely on going the extra mile and doing everything in your power to do a great job.

You can’t control if you will live or die tomorrow but you can control the way you live today, so focus entirely on being a person who puts their heart into every minute they live so you won’t have any regrets when your time actually comes.

By focusing our attention on the things we can control in life, such as the person we will be, the integrity we will have, the love we will give, the way we will serve, the knowledge we will gain, the kindness we will show, the faith we will have, the attitude we will carry, the character we will exhibit, the relationships we will build, the thanks we will give, the gratitude we will show, the impact we can have….focusing our attention on all of these things will ensure that we build something that no one can ever take away. It ensures that we will have something that money cannot buy; something that exceeds any financial gain. It ensures that our lives will be successful beyond measure.

For me I think of it like this: If I can focus my attention on being the very best me that I can possibly be, with the very best me being defined as being that “me” that I believe God sees I am capable of being, if I can focus on being “that me” than success will come in every aspect of my life. And that kind of success will be controllable, consistent, and unchanging. That kind of success will last forever.

 

Juggling Glass Balls

 

I really love the talk given by Coca Cola CEO Brian Dyson back in 1996 at a Georgia Tech commencement ceremony where he shared his analogy of the five balls we are all trying to keep in the air. He said:

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us each together.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t forget that a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.”

AWESOME SPEECH!  And I needed that reminder today on balance! Plus there are a lot of other great lessons shared in that speech to keep in mind. 

I love learning from inspiring words and thoughts of others. I highly recommend keeping your own book of motivational quotes and stories to read whenever you are having a difficult day.  They work wonders for lifting you up and getting you back in a positive mindset again.

Have a great day everyone!  And remember not to drop the glass ball!!!

 

Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams

 

Life is full of curve balls that are bound to come up and mess up our best laid plans. It’s a part of life that cannot be stopped from happening. Unexpectedly loved ones pass away, family members fall ill, injuries occur, vehicles break down, jobs get lost, things go sideways, pandemics break out…there are all kinds of unexpected things that come up and force us to modify our plans, so when they do we have to make sure we don’t allow ourselves to let those feelings of disappointment, frustration, and stress to overtake us. Because the moment we do, we have pretty much ensured that we, whatever the new plan is, will be a miserable experience for us and likely those around us as well.

In my younger years I’d allow unexpected things to get me down. I’d get frustrated and stressed out because in my mind all I could think of was how my perfectly laid plans had gotten disrupted and how no new plan in its place was ever going to be able to be quite as good as that first one would have been. I would go into the revised plan with the attitude that it was bound to turn out worse. And with that as my attitude and outlook on what lay ahead I’d pretty much guarantee the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy because for everything that happened I was viewing it through the lens of thinking it wouldn’t be as good. 

Many years of life experience finally taught me that even though I cannot control plans going sideways I always have 100% control on the lens through which I choose to view things.  We can decide that rather than focusing on what “could have been” and thinking a new plan won’t be as good as the first, we can instead choose to believe that this change in plan is actually going to turn out a million times better for us in the end. We can choose to recognize that God knows everything so perhaps He knew our original plan was problematic and He’s trying to steer us in a different direction to protect us from future trouble. And we can have faith that whatever the new plan is it is will turn out better than anything we could have imagined ourselves with the limited view we have of what’s possible.  

Our job is to set goals, make plans, and then work to achieve them. And when things go sideways and disappointments come up (because they always do)- we choose to trust. Trust that whatever will happens next is going to be a million times better than anything we could have planned. After all, God is much better at this than we are.

 

 

As You Travel Through Life

“As You Travel Through Life“

As you travel through life there are always those times

 

When decisions just have to be made,

When the choices are hard, and solutions seem scarce,

 

And the rain seems to soak your parade.

There are some situations where all you can do

 

Is simply let go and move on,

Gather your courage and choose a direction

 

That carries you toward a new dawn.

So pack up your troubles and take a step forward

 

The process of change can be tough,

But think about all the excitement ahead

 

There might be adventures you never imagined

Just waiting around the next bend,

 

And wishes and dreams just about to come true

In ways you can’t yet comprehend!

 

Perhaps you’ll find friendships that spring from new things

As you challenge your status quo,

 

And learn there are so many options in life,

Perhaps you’ll go places you never expected

 

And see things that you’ve never seen,

Or travel to fabulous, faraway worlds

 

And wonderful spots in between!

Perhaps you’ll find warmth and affection and caring

 

And somebody special who’s there

To help you stay cantered and listen with interest

 

To stories and feelings you share.

Perhaps you’ll find comfort in knowing your friends

 

Are supportive of all that you do,

And believe that whatever decisions you make,

 

They’ll be the right choices for you.

So keep putting one foot in front of the other,

 

And taking your life day by day…

There’s a brighter tomorrow that’s just down the road –

 

Don’t look back! You’re not going that way!

-author unknown

I want to express thanks to whoever the author unknown is that wrote that poem. It’s a poem that’s crossed my path many times over the years and it always seems to show up on days I needed to hear it most….like today