Reacting to Obstacles

When you encounter an obstacle,

how do you respond?

If you are like many people,

you might feel that the world might be against you, and that nothing ever goes your way?

Instead?

You should be thinking about taking a step back, looking at the situation objectively and thinking,

“What can I do to turn this obstacle into an advantage?”

If we look at them in this way,

even the biggest obstacles can be turned to our advantage.

For example, in the 1960s the then celebrated boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was falsely accused of a triple homicide, and sentenced to jail for life.

But as he entered prison,

he resolved to not let his circumstances overwhelm him,

and instead tried to see how he could make the best of it.

First, he vowed to not live with the injustice,

but keep fighting to overcome it through the court of law.

Then he turned his limited physical freedom to his advantage by using his time inside to study history, philosophy and law.

Carter’s case was eventually overturned,

and he was released after 19 years.

Carter left jail as he had entered it,

a free man.

But in addition,

he had also used the time to improve his education and himself.

So how can we achieve this objective perspective?

By learning to detach yourself from your own personal – and highly subjective – view of the situation.

You can do this by imagining that you are advising a friend about overcoming the obstacle.

What would you say to them?

How would you let them approach it?

Or you can take after the Stoics.

They would imagine how a sage – a person of perfect wisdom – would react to the obstacle.

In that way, they would explore hidden sources of wisdom that they didn’t consciously know they had.

How do you react to obstacles?