A blind man feels an elephant's leg and says he is touching a tree. Another blind man feels the elephant's trunk and believes he has encountered a snake. Your perception is your reality.
Every life experience offers an excellent opportunity. You can assign it any meaning you like. Labeling obstacles as opportunities immediately makes life more rewarding and fulfilling. Remember the following advice the next time life gets challenging, and you can turn an adverse event into a positive experience.
Personal Failures
There once was a single mother who was depressed, broke, and divorced. She saw her desperate situation as an opportunity instead of a problem. The only thing she had in abundance was spare time, so she used that time to write about a boy wizard.
That woman was JK Rowling, who scribbled on scrap pieces of paper, napkins, and any paper she had handy. She eventually wrote the Harry Potter series of books that made her the world's wealthiest author in 2021. She gives us the following advice for viewing our failures.
"It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case, you fail by default."
Every time you fail, you have a choice to make. You can accept your failure as a declaration of your identity or take something positive from the experience. Successful people view personal failures as nothing more than life events that can teach them something. They see failure as the beginning of a favorable opportunity, not the end of a negative experience.
Obstacles Can Be Beneficial
Psychologists and best-selling authors Carol Dweck and Angela Duckworth teach that failures can be beneficial. Obstacles aren't a problem for people who don't attempt much. They don't learn vital lessons and grow in any way from the failures that obstacles sometimes deliver.
Change your mindset. Pick the obstacle apart. How can you use it to generate something positive?
See Risk as the Goal
Deciding to reframe your view of obstacles might mean taking on a little risk. Avoiding an obstacle is a no-risk proposition. You can't fail if you don't make an effort. However, you don't receive any benefits either. It's just a non-event.
The risk attached to tackling an obstacle might make you a little gun-shy. That's only natural. Learn to look at risk as a reward, whether or not you create a great outcome. Don't judge yourself by the result alone. You can grow from the process. Taking calculated risks improves your self-esteem, self-confidence, and abilities.
Reframe your outlook instead of viewing an obstacle as a problem you should avoid. See any risk associated with facing an obstacle as an opportunity for personal growth. You strengthen diverse character traits regardless of the outcome you create.
