Tunneling Through Obstacles

Late this summer I moved to Boulder, Colorado with my family. We had found a wonderful house in the exact neighborhood that I wanted to be in. One of the main reasons I was obsessed with this neighborhood is because of its proximity to a wonderful nature preserve and hiking trail. I was positive that I would go hiking there pretty much every day.

However, after two weeks of being in our house and getting settled, I had not once gone on the hike. You see, there is a major street that separates our house from the open space. That obstacle was enough to dampen my ambition to get my hike on.

Then, two of my dear friends came to visit me from Portland. I really wanted them to see how cool my new neighborhood was. It was enough of a reason to cross that busy street. We made it to the trail and walked into this beautiful open space. And do you know what we found? A tunnel! A tunnel that went under the busy street, connecting my house to the nature preserve!

I was thrilled.

Ever since taking the tiniest step toward what I wanted – by finally crossing that street (which, for the record, was not that hard to do) –I have gone on a beautiful hike almost every day.

This event illustrated the way we sometimes let small obstacles get in the way of our goals. But, if we can just move through them or around them or… better yet, step back and get perspective, we see that there was a solution available the whole time.

There might not be a tunnel straight through your problem (though there often is), but there always is a path of least resistance, and it’s often staring you straight in the face. Too often, we approach our challenges expecting them to be hard, and then we find exactly what we were looking for. We choose a circuitous route because that’s what we signed up for. Geniuses have a tendency to sidestep conventional thinking. And I have a feeling you have an inner genius that’s eager to start making your life easier … and more interesting.

This week, I encourage you to notice the parts of your life you’ve been approaching with the expectation that there is no tunnel – that there’s only one way to get it done, and it’s going to be hard. Rewrite that mental script. Expect that you’re going to find a solution and it’s going to be easier than you thought. When you approach the situation with anxiety, dread, or fear, you’ll see obstacles everywhere; but if you cultivate an enthusiastic sense of gratitude, knowing that you’re going to make it, you’ll see loopholes and opportunities. Meanwhile, while you’re waiting openly for those opportunities to appear, it doesn’t hurt to just cross the freakin’ street! That is, keep taking basic steps toward your goal, in order to put yourself out there where the magic happens.

I’d love to hear from you! Tell me what obstacles are getting in the way of your goals and what you are going to do to create movement today.