I saw a post on Facebook a while back by Dr. Henry Cloud that had this image in it and it made me think: how many of our problems end up being the catalyst we need to make a change?
I know for me personally, the biggest and most positive changes I’ve ever made in my life have come from a period of pure junk. Sometimes things have to get bad to the point that you aren’t happy with the way things are before you’re truly willing to embrace a change. This is because all people, deep down, don’t like to change. We’re creatures of routine and habit, and whether that habit is good or bad we will keep doing it until we can’t do it anymore or unless something happens to make us see that there is a better way.
We all have our breaking points. Sometimes there are people who are unlucky enough that their physical breaking point happens before their mental breaking point and they don’t get the opportunity to make their changes. Some people seem to have the foresight to see patterns and can circumvent habits before they cause a problem. But for most of us, we get to an end and then make a change.
I’ve never really thought of problems as being blessings but I can honestly say that I can see them in that light now. A problem, whether it is a bad habit, an addiction, a person, something financial, physical or whatever is simply an opportunity. It is an opportunity to realize that we can’t change anything but ourselves and our actions. It is an opportunity to realize that we have the opportunity to make these changes. And once we realize that, it is our responsibility to take the action. Intentional action yields amazing results. Hell, if it weren’t for something bad (unhealthy living, being overweight, drinking too much) in my life that I actively wanted to change then I wouldn’t be writing this blog. But I did want to change, and when I finally realized that it wasn’t going to happen to me I was able to take the many small actions that resulted in a larger fundamental change in my life.
The end goal is not really an end- it is the process. As humans, we are never really done developing and changing. The end goal is maintaining consistent progress forward on the journey. I’ve heard the phrase in business “if you’re not growing, your dying” and it is absolutely true of each person’s life in general. If you’re not putting in the time to grow yourself then you’re falling backward minute by minute. There is no stationary. No static. Only forward and reverse.
Be somebody that moves forward! As Ryan Serhant says “Expansion Always. In. All. Ways.”
