Obstacles: Making you better and p*ssing you off at the same time. Who doesn't love a challenge?
For those who follow my "Keys to Success" series here on Odyssey, you may have noticed that after following my articles about how both discipline and branding yourself are essential keys to success, I was absent for the third week. My opening line summarizes everything that this article will highlight. Believe it or not, obstacles are what make you better even though it doesn't feel like it. The ongoing obstacle that I have been dealing with is a bit trying and also a bit more than I'm used to, but it's the very reason I am sitting here at this moment talking to you about what I have had to discover through trial and error about what builds a successful platform. This has nothing to do with money; this has nothing to do with how you look or that elevator pitch you have been helplessly trying to tune. This deals directly with inner reflection, and I hope that my story and my journey show you that no matter what you go through, the glass is always half full.
I have been dealing with this irritating and life threatening health condition where my tonsils enlarge to the point where it essentially closes my throat. The condition is so severe that I can't swallow saliva when it happens (no, literally). Rather than my illnesses progressing, they compile, which turns them into one large, "what the hell is going on with me?" for a lack of a better way to put it. I apologize for my profanity, but that's what I asked the first time it happened. My first episode was Christmas morning. My throat had been hurting a couple days prior, but I didn't think anything of it. A sore throat is common, especially during that time of year. So, I used the same remedies anybody would use: medicine, warm tea, apple cider vinegar, etc. All the remedies did was irritate it and make it worse. Therefore, my parents made the executive decision to take me to the hospital, which I loathed because, frankly, I hate needles. I knew that I was going to get a shot of some kind. So, fast forward past sitting there with an aggravated throat and sweaty palms, I went in and got a few shots (not one, a few). The doctor said that it was pretty much just an overly irritated throat, nothing that a steroid shot, a little I.V., and an antibiotics prescription couldn't clear up.
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I went home feeling like I could lift a house off of a foundation. The steroids had me feeling like a new man. I stuffed my face, as is tradition with holiday feasts for me, and sat there full and happy. Later that night, though, I started having an episode again, and I had a round two with the E.R. that translated into a more aggravated throat, more shots (ugh) and another, stronger prescription with some hydrocodone for the pain. Fast forward once more, and for the third night in a row, I was in the hospital to the point where I couldn't even talk. My tonsils had swollen so bad that it caused my tongue to swell, and it was like I had a mouth full of rocks. I remember sitting and crying in my mother's arms because the pain was so excruciating that I could no longer keep up the tough guy act. In true mother bear fashion, she refused to leave until I was admitted as a patient and good thing she did. Had she not, the doctor stated that my throat would have closed entirely and I would have died in my sleep.
Whoa.
I spent about three days in the hospital. Come to find out I had strep, abscesses, bronchitis, and various other conditions all at the same time. The doctor said that he'd only seen one other case like it in his two-plus decades of practice and that I was fortunate to be alive because most people would not have been as persistent as my mom was that night. What does this have to do with last week's article, you ask?
Well, it happened again. The difference was, this time, we knew what was going on and we were able to be significantly more prepared than we were the last time. It happened much faster, though, so I was immediately put on hydrocodone and antibiotics. I spent last week recovering, and today I share my story to tell you that you have two choices in this world: die for nothing or live for something. What helps you decide what side of the fence you stand on is how you handle obstacles. If you are one of those people who loathe every time the simplest tribulation arises (98 percent of America), then decide to reprogram your mind to be like the two percent that welcomes a challenge because the victory is the focus, not the journey. I sat there and cried the first time, which isn't some horrible thing, but sitting and crying would have done nothing but kill me had I done it again. When I was revisited by the same situation, I knew to act fast, ask questions and understand that this was temporary as long as I did what I was supposed to do.
That's the best thing about an obstacle, it's a temporary challenge.
So the next time you look at your gas gauge and it's just above empty, think about how you can better utilize and prioritize your funds instead of complaining about gas prices and how unfair they are. You could have gone to the grocery store and bought the ingredients yourself to make twice the amount of food, but instead, you went to McDonald's and ordered a super-sized Big Mac meal. That's not the oil industry's fault. There's a lesson in budgeting to be taught there. The next time you complain about how there isn't enough time in the day to do all of the errands you have, check yourself about how much time you spent taking a "break" doing absolutely nothing to "reward" yourself for the mediocre "hard work" you did all day. I'm not saying this to judge anyone, I'm saying this because that's what I say to myself every day that I chose to take on that mentality. There's another lesson to be learned there and it's called time management. It's one thing to work tirelessly to succeed at completing the tasks at hand and take a well-deserved nap or kick your feet up in the back yard. It's an entirely different story to run a letter to the post office and start focusing on the negative stuff like how hot it is, how hungry you are or how you just frankly don't feel like doing it.
Learn to love obstacles, or you'll live in regret because the only thing that can defeat you is you. If you decide to welcome challenges instead of complaining about them you will notice more positive things happening in your life. I'm speaking from experience, and it's the welcome of the challenge and the pursuit of victory against it that serves as the reason that I am alive and writing this article.
