Navigating Life’s Labyrinth: Mastering the Art of Zigzagging Through Obstacles

Dear Passenger,

Have you ever felt like life's obstacles are insurmountable?

Join me as I take you on a journey through the nuanced world of overcoming barriers. Using psychologist Karyn Hall's "Overcoming Obstacles" article as a foundational guide, I share my personal story of managing an ultra-rare bleeding disorder. Learn how radical acceptance and emotional management can transform your approach to life's inevitable challenges. I emphasize the power of naming and assessing your hurdles before tackling them head-on, ensuring you're equipped with practical steps for real-world application.

This episode also highlights the importance of seeing self-growth as a lifelong adventure. I reassure you that you're not alone on this path, offering a supportive community and resources through Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and TheSelfGrowthTrainPodcast.com. Together, let's navigate the often turbulent seas of personal development, armed with research-backed insights and a steadfast commitment to growth. 

Resources used today:
Overcoming Obstacles

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Contact The Self-Growth Train Podcast

* Website www.TheSelfGrowthTrainPodcast.com
* Instagram @theselfgrowthtrainpodcast
* Facebook @thesgtpodcast
* Tik Tok @theselfgrowthtrainpod

Until the next stop dear passengers – Safe Travels!
-FMRP

Episode Transcript

Frances Marie Rivera Pach (00:07):
Hello , my dear passengers, and
welcome aboard the Self-GrowthTrain, a podcast that combines
personal stories, opinions andresearch in order to better
guide you through yourself-growth journey.
My name is Frances Marie ReraPacheco and I am your tour guide
.
First, I want to say thank youfor tuning back into the podcast
.
Some of you guys have beenwondering and questioning me

(00:29):
whether I'm going to be havingguests on the podcast once again
with this relaunch, and yes,the answer is yes, yes, yes, I
will be having guests once again.
The only thing is it's going totake me a couple of months, but
you know what?
That's okay, because when Ifirst started the podcast, I did
it all by myself.
Until one day I was likewouldn't it be cool to invite
somebody new every week?

(00:50):
And then it happened.
So, just letting you know yes,guests will be back.
It's just going to take acouple of months before that
starts again.
Well, my dear passenger, thetime has come to put on our seat
belts as we dive into our firststop.
Today's topic, and the topic fortoday, is obstacles.
Obstacles are defined by theMerriam-Webster dictionary as

(01:10):
something that prevents progressor achievement.
I don't know about you, my dearpassenger, but for me, I have
faced all types of obstacles inall shapes and sizes.
They come in physical ways,mental ways, emotional ways and
sometimes even a combination ofall three ways of them.
For today's episode, my mainresource is an article that I

(01:30):
found on psychologytoday.
com.
It is an article by one oftheir psychologists, Karyn Hall.
She's also the author and thepodcast host of The Emotionally
Sensitive Person, a podcast thatfinished airing back in 2019.
Today, we're going to be usingher article Overcoming Obstacles
.
So what exactly is the firststep to zigzagging through the

(01:51):
obstacles that life throws ourway?
It's actually quite simple youjust have to stop.
I know it sounds a littlecounterproductive to stop before
dealing with an obstacle, butthe reason that we want to stop
is because we want to take apause and we want to see what is
happening.
What is this new obstacle thatis in our way?

(02:12):
Or maybe it has been anobstacle that has been in our
way for a while, right?
So if this obstacle has been inour way for a while, we kind of
want to look at it and see whatit is and put a name to it.
If it's an obstacle that justcame in, we want to do the same
thing.
We want to know what we'redealing with before we're able
to deal with it.
So, really, if you think aboutit, stopping is actually quite a

(02:34):
powerful move when it comes todealing with obstacles, because
it means that you get thatclarity and you get that moment
of peace before you actuallyhave to deal with them, once you
stop and think about what thisobstacle is and you can put a
name to it and now are ready todeal with it.
The next step is to practiceradical acceptance.
Now, radical acceptance isactually quite hard to master

(02:58):
and let me tell you, I've beentrying that for 29 years and I'm
still struggling with it.
The reality is that all typesof obstacles are going to come
our way, but the main obstaclesthat are going to come our way
are ones that we cannot control,and as an example, I can use my
diagnosis of an ultra rarebleeding disorder.
There's no way that I canchange that.

(03:19):
There's no way that I can wakeup one day and say I no longer
have factor five deficiency.
So over the last 29 years, I'vehad to deal with the fact that
this is a diagnosis that isgoing to affect my life and it's
going to affect my quality oflife as a whole and I have come
to accept it Now.
It doesn't mean I like it allthe time, but it does mean that

(03:41):
it has allowed me to understandhey, you can't control this.
It is going to affect what jobsyou're able to get, it is going
to affect what activitiesyou're able to get, it is going
to affect what activities you'reable to involve yourself in,
but it doesn't have tonecessarily take over every
single aspect of your life, andyou know, part of zigzagging
through life's obstacles is alsodealing with your emotions.

(04:04):
If you're like me, I am anextremely sensitive emotional
person, which means that whensomething hurts, I am crying,
crying, crying.
When something makes me happy,I am smiling, I am overfilled
with joy, and sometimes it canbe kind of hard to control as
well.
But the reality is that we haveto be kind to ourselves and we

(04:25):
have to accept the emotions thatare around us.
We have to accept hey, I'mfeeling sad right now or hey,
I'm feeling happy right now, and, unlike obstacles, we are able
to control our emotions.
Now I'm not saying, preventyourself from crying, but hey,
you might be able to control theamount of tears that come

(04:47):
through, or even like how muchexcitement you're showing out
there, and the reason for thisis not to prevent you from
expressing your emotions, it'sjust to kind of like regulate
how your body reacts to thoseemotions.
Because the reality is thatwhen you are experiencing
emotions, it can also cause alot of stress on your body, and

(05:08):
stress has the power ofaffecting all types of aspects
of your health.
So in order to do this, youneed to accept those emotions.
But you can also control theseemotions by simply being aware
of what they are and kind ofcontrolling like, hey, do I want
this to overtake me right now,or is there a better way to deal

(05:30):
with the emotion that I'mhaving?
Also, who says that you have togo through all of this alone?
Nobody, in fact.
You can ask for input of yourfamily, your friends and even
health professionals to help youzigzag through these obstacles.
In my case, when I startedhaving difficulties accepting
the fact that I kept losing myjobs and just felt like I was a

(05:53):
burden because of my bleedingdisorder, I actually reached out
to my health professionals,like my therapist, and I was
just like listen, I don't knowhow to deal with this any longer
.
I feel like a burden.
I feel like every time I try,put my best foot forward, things
keep happening.
That put me back like 10 to 15steps back, and I honestly don't

(06:16):
know what else to do right now.
And she was actually the personthat helped me.
See, Frances, this is nevergoing to change for you, and
there's power in knowing thatthis is not going to change for
you, because it allows you torealize hey, for instance,
because you have a bleedingdisorder and it's going to
affect your career choices, youhave to determine what do you

(06:39):
want to do?
Obviously, I want to befinancially stable by myself,
and that means that instead ofhaving a full-time job, I might
have to have a part-time job.
Or instead of having a jobwhere I go into an office, I
might have to settle for aremote job.
But you see how, by asking forinput, I was able to come up

(06:59):
with different options anddifferent ideas of how to deal
with them.
This brings me to the nextpoint.
Sometimes you have to reevaluatethese obstacles, because these
obstacles can actually be aredirection of things that you
might have never considered,that you want to do or that you
want to deal with.
Again, in my case, I've been soused to having a job in person

(07:31):
that thinking of having a remotejob fully I don't know like
it's not really something thatI've thought of or considered.
But then, if you think about it, back in 2019 with COVID and
2020, most of our jobs wereremote and all of a sudden,
something that nobody couldreally consider became a reality
and now most people actuallydesire to have a remote job
because that was an obstaclethat brought in a new, upgraded

(07:52):
way of working.
And now people are like, hey,you know what I actually like
working at home way more thangoing into the office.
So sometimes obstacles canactually make you reevaluate how
you want to live your life andthey have a purpose.
The great thing is that onceyou have purpose, you have
meaning, and that is somethingthat you need to find within the
obstacles.

(08:12):
So for me because I don't knowwhen I might have a spontaneous
bleed that might affect myability to perform jobs that I
am a part of I now realize thatin order for me to take action
with these obstacles right,zigzagging through these
obstacles.
For me right now, that meanshaving a part-time job and hey,

(08:32):
who knows, maybe in the future.
It might mean having afull-time job that is remote, or
maybe it will mean having ahybrid job, or maybe it will
mean having three part-time jobs.
I don't know what the future isgoing to look like, but I can
definitely take action today tofind meaning within the
obstacles that are happeningright now and dealing with them

(08:55):
right.
So that's kind of like what youneed to start doing is with
these obstacles.
What meaning can I find behindthem and what actions can I take
in order to deal with them?
Well, my dear passenger, thetime has come for the last stop
of the day, recap time.
Today's episode discussedobstacles, which are simply

(09:16):
things that can prevent progressor improvement.
Now we know that the first stepto zigzagging through obstacles
is to stop.
You want to make sure you knowwhat you're dealing with before
you start dealing with it.
Right after you're aware ofwhat the obstacle is and how you
plan to deal with it, you'reable to practice radical
acceptance and also accept youremotions.
Radical acceptance is superhard, so please, please, please,

(09:40):
please, be gentle with yourselfand have grace.
It is something that takes along, long time to master and,
in terms of your emotions, youremotions are more controllable
than obstacles.
Why?
Because the majority of theobstacles that you will face in
life are going to beuncontrollables.
The best part about all of thisis that you're not alone.
You have family, you havefriends and you have health

(10:00):
professionals that can help youalong the way, if you simply
take the time to ask for theirinput.
Once you do, you're able toreevaluate how the obstacle is
affecting your life and also seeit, maybe, as a redirection to
something that you might nothave considered before.
Finding meaning can be such apowerful move because it allows
you to take action right now, inthe present, and I know that a

(10:22):
lot of times, we want to focusin the future and we want to
focus on the past, but the bestplace to focus on is right now.
So make sure to find thatmeaning and make sure to take
action.
Remember, self-growth is anendless journey towards
self-improvement.
However, you don't ever have todo it alone.
As your tour guide, my goal isto guide you with the best
intentions and the best researchavailable.
Make sure you follow me onInstagram, facebook and TikTok

(10:46):
at the Self-Growth Train Podcast, and to also follow me on my
new website,theselfgrowthtrainpodcast.
com.
As always, all the resourcesused today have been added to
the episode's descriptions.
Well, until the next stop, dearpassengers, safe travels.
Bye!