Inspiration & Motivation

Facing Hurdles? Take A Breather

Matt Orlando
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If you are anything like me, you face multiple hurdles, sometimes daily, in reaching your goals and obtaining your dreams. Sometimes the hurdles are small and we are easily able to leap over them. Other times the hurdles seem insurmountable and yet we give it all we have and somehow manage to leap past them. Still other times we get tripped up and fall on our faces. We emerge, perhaps bruised and embarrassed, but we brush ourselves off, wipe the blood off our lip, and continue powering (or limping) towards the finish line.

That is, of course, on the days or weeks or months where you have that inner strength to move forward. Where you are able, despite your setbacks, to keep your eye and mind on the prize despite what life throws your way. We are all human, however, and all face those times where we feel as though we cannot move on, we cannot go forward, that the hurdles we face and the bumps and bruises we have accumulated along the way are just too overwhelming to deal with anymore. We want to give up, we want to give in, we want the stress and disappointment of it all to just end so that we can unload the burden of it all and move on to other things.

Just last month I found myself in that place, where I wanted to pack it all in and just walk away altogether. Things were not moving forward as I had hoped. Doors, which I thought would easily open for me, not only would not open but would not even present themselves. I was feeling discouraged, defeated, and just ready to say goodbye and leave it all behind. I was, in a word, done. I had let the discouraging voices in my head win out. I disconnected, turned my back, walked away without so much as a glance behind me. I was convinced that I was through.

How did it feel just walking away like that, turning my back on all I had built up over the past year and half, the relationships I had developed and the stories I had left untold? In all honesty it was freeing. I was no longer stressed about deadlines, no longer worried about follow backs, no longer giving thought to open and click rates. My mind was free to focus on other things I enjoyed, most notably my family. My attention was focused on the here and now rather than what still had to get done. I felt like myself again, who I was before I let it all get out of hand and uncontrollable. I was, and am, a renewed person.

So if walking away and turning my back on everything made me feel so good, why am I back here writing again? Well, as it turns out, all I needed was this time away in order to recharge, rethink, and re-imagine my way past the latest hurdle. What I thought was walking away was really just me stepping off the track, catching my breath, refueling, and then hopping back on ready to leap the next hurdle that may (and will) come my way. This time around the track, however, I plan on getting back to basics and not trying to make myself more than I am. It is time to get back to the basics and fall in love with it all over again.

The next time you are feeling beaten down and want to give up and pack it in (and we all have those moments), simply step off the track and take a breather. It might only take a day or maybe it will take a few months. Whatever the time, it may be all you need to get you over that next hurdle and back on your way to realizing your dreams.

What are some hurdles you are facing? Share in the comments below!