Ruts and Roadblocks

Ruts and Roadblocks

How would you like to see THAT scene before you as you try to make progress on a trip? If you DID come across this then you would obviously have to make some alternative plans in order to continue on your journey.

This major roadblock was caused by a mudslide - something completely out of our hands. It wasn't anything YOU caused and there wasn't anything YOU could do to prevent it from happening. But it DID happen and, because of that, if you were on a journey and encountered this road block then you would have to make some decisions regardless of how and why it happened.

Does that ever happen to you in your life? You do understand that I'm not talking about a boulder blocking an actual highway, right? But has your life ever met up with some sort of roadblock that you had no way to control or prevent? What did you do?

Let's talk about ruts for a moment. A lot of you have HEARD about ruts but I wonder how many of you have ever actually encountered ruts while driving. It could be a rut that has been made on a snow-covered road or it could be a rut that has been carved out in a mud-packed road. Either way, ruts can cause problems for the one trying to navigate down such a road!

You can stay in a rut but you really aren't deciding which direction your automobile will go - you just stay in the rut and follow the same path as others before you. If you give just a little effort to get out of the rut you will not have much success! The deeper the rut the harder it is to get OUT of that rut!

Now, let's again apply that to our actual lives. Sometimes we get in a rut that we have carved out ourselves, don't we? We've just fallen into going through the same motions day in and day out until we have carved out a nice little rut for ourselves.

Living IN a rut is really pretty easy! After a while you don't really have to give much thought to what you are doing - just stay in the rut and do the same thing today that you did yesterday and the day before and the day before that!

Maybe you've fallen into a rut that someone else (or several someones) have carved out. You have fallen into this rut and have given in to the "path of least resistance". "Hey, this is not so bad! I just follow the crowd and don't do anything different and I can just glide right along!"

Not a bad way to live if you want to live life like a robot.

So, what if you realize that you are in a rut and you don't WANT to stay in that rut? What then?

Ruts and roadblocks - they happen to all of us.

I shared with you on today's podcast that I feel that I have faced a roadblock and that I am in a rut RIGHT NOW! I have acknowledged that even a couple of weeks ago but it seems that I'm still here staring at that roadblock and trying to look out and over that rut.

Wow. You too?

So, how did we get here? You see, to me, this is the second most important thing we can do as far as "ruts and roadblocks" go. First, we must realize we are there and it's not where we want to be and then we must try to figure out how we got here!

Sometimes, with the roadblocks - as the example shared above - it really has nothing to do with us, it just happened! That's the way life is sometimes! We can either sit there in despair and just give up OR we can plan an alternate route so that we can continue on our journey!

But, there are SOME roadblocks that we have placed before ourselves. How did THAT happen? It's very important for us to take a close look at this and try to "pin-point" exactly HOW it happened so that we can now do the "opposite" in order to "undo" the roadblock.

This ain't easy! (Pardon my southern slant on that line.)

Chances are - and chances are really good - that it didn't happen overnight (with the "we put it there" variety of roadblock). And, that being so, our "pin-pointing" won't happen overnight either. We'll get back to this in a moment and combine it with the "rut problem" as well.

How do you get out of a rut? WITH A LOT OF EFFORT!

Anyone that has encountered a physical rut - especially a deep one - can tell you that it takes MAJOR effort to get out of (and stay out of) a rut! Remember, the deeper the rut the harder it is to get out OF that rut!

How deep is your rut? Have you caught this before it got too deep or will you need some major climbing gear just to peek over the top of your rut?

The same is true for ruts as it is for roadblocks - we MUST figure out how we got here!

How do we do that with ruts and roadblocks?

THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION.

What is DIFFERENT now than it was before?

Has the joy, energy and happiness been sucked from your life? Why? How? When did it happen?

Go back in time and try to "pin-point" a time when you actually felt the way you think you want to feel now. When were you happy? When did you feel as if you had positive and powerful energy in your life?

Take a snapshot if you will of "then" and one of "now" - what's different?

Go through a process of elimination with both the rut and the roadblock and try to determine what changed in your life in such a way that caused you to follow that path that led you to where you are today.

Take how ever long it takes to try to figure it out. Write down what you find as you go along. You likely will find SEVERAL things that have changed and not just one!

We are going to talk more about this tomorrow and also we will talk about what we do once we pin-point the problem.

But know this, friend - YOU CAN OVERCOME THIS and you CAN get out of your rut and you CAN get around, over or through that roadblock whether you caused it or life just dumped it there.

YES, YOU CAN!

Know that. Believe that. Feel that.

And, as you go through your day...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike