Roadblocks are the obstacles, hurdles, detours, u-turns, and closed doors that stand between you and your desires. Whenever we make the choice to step outside of our comfort zones, to push against our fears, to reimagine our lives, we face countless blocks, both real and imagined.
I recently wrote about resistance and my own inability to wrestle my words on the page and this is most certainly a roadblock standing between me and my own desire to be a writer. Similar to self-doubt and imposter syndrome, I consider resistance to be imagined or a product of my own mind.
But this week I want to talk about the ‘real’ kind that happen outside of our minds, the broken business partnerships, the failed leases, the pandemic that derailed our lives, the actual closed doors, and the unavoidable and often life altering things than happen when we reach for the unknown.
I have encountered plenty of roadblocks as I willingly choose to live on the edge of my own comfort zone. While in the beginning these particular hurdles felt frustrating and at times darn near impossible to move through, I can now clearly see that each one has ultimately redirected my life in the best way possible. I have come to believe that these roadblocks are placed on our paths for a reason and I have come to appreciate every closed door, detour, and failure I have faced because they protected me from the paths and places not meant (or no longer meant) for me.
This is one of the unspoken topics I wish someone had warned me about when I was first embarking on this journey, when I first started leaning into my own growth and chasing my own dreams. Prior to launching my first business I daydreamed about how beautiful it would be without pausing to considering the flip side. I will be the first to admit that the glorified pictures I saw online mislead me to believe that I would seamlessly launch that dream and reinvent my life.
When that life fell apart, I was frustrated that nobody seemed to be sharing the other side of the story. For every pretty picture there is another less desirable but very real hurdle that was jumped. For every success there is another failure that was endured. For every business built there is another dream or career that was lost.
I would not be standing where I am today if postpartum depression hadn’t derailed my career. That particular undoing felt unsurmountable, but ultimately helped me to see what mattered most to me. Fast forward a couple of years and I was able to repurpose that particular failure into a business designed to support other mothers navigating the same. Launching that business strengthen my relationship with my self, but also came with failed business partnerships, lost leases, and plenty of closed doors. Moving through these hurdles helped me to redefine the dream and understand exactly how much it meant to me. When the pandemic hit and forced me to close my doors and break my lease, I turned to writing and uncovered an even bigger longing deep inside of me.
I have learned time and time again that we gain strength through our struggles. I am a firm believer that life unfolds in our favor, that the challenges and roadblocks we face are actually redirecting us, helping us adjust our path. Most things fall apart so something even better can fall into place.
What are your roadblocks and obstacles trying to tell you? What are the hurdles and closed doors trying to get you to do?
The Latest Posts:
Ideas: What do we do with our ideas?
Lack: Overcoming lack is how we take our power back.
Resistance: The more important the goal, the more resistance you will feel.
Running: You should always be running toward something, not away from something.
Ease: Let it be easy, let it be fun, let it be fulfilling.
Steps: Success doesn’t just happen, you must climb the staircase step by step.
Reignited: To ignite and begin to burn again.
Transition: The process of changing from one state or condition to another.
Reinvented: To change something or someone so much it appears entirely new.