If I Move Forwards, There May Be Rocks In The Way…

There are many reasons why people don’t achieve their goals, and one of the biggest reasons is those rocks that lie lurking down the road…

I took the picture at Reculver in Kent, a glorious sunset in Autumn 2015, and the idea struck me as I looked at it.

When I talk about people achieving their goals, I mean following their passions, their joys, what they know deep down makes them feel alive.

It’s a personal thing as to what that might mean to each individual, of course, but if you’re someone who *isn’t* following that path in life, the path towards passion and joy, the reasons why can usually be ticked off a list.

Maybe you just don’t believe it. You just don’t believe that the goal will happen, even though in all likelihood it’s happened to many others before you, so the map is there for you to follow.

Maybe you don’t believe you’re worthy. Do the people around you support you, or do they bring you down, filling you with thoughts of negativity and settling for a lower level?

It could be something you tell *yourself*, that you’re not good enough, that achievements like that are only for ‘others.’

It could be that you *do* believe – you believe you deserve it, and you believe the goal can happen, but you haven’t defined it well enough, and as a result you haven’t worked out the next step you need to take.

If you’ve set yourself up with all of the above – the belief, the defined goal, the plan of the next step, it could still be that you are stuck where you are. That’s because you’re not taking any actual action, and it’s *here* that we come to the point made in the image. It’s *here* that we come to the big reason that kills so many dreams and keeps so many people in a life of unfulfillment…

Fear.

That could be a fear of what your friends and family might say.
Fear of failing.
Fear of success (that’s a whole different article!)
Fear of how much it will cost.
Fear you won’t be good enough.
Fear it will be too hard.

Those fears are the rocks that might lie in wait for us down the road if we move towards what we know our life should be.

At this point I could say that all those fears are groundless, that of course you’ll succeed, of course everyone will be happy for you, and it’ll be a breeze.
Yes, I could say that, but it would be hogwash, nonsense.

The truth is that it might indeed be hard, people around you may well be opposed, and might even try to do something about stopping you.

There may be sacrifices involved, hard sacrifices.
It might take a lot of hard effort to make progress, and there be no guarantee of success.

In other words, there may be rocks down the road, and you may trip up on them. In fact, let’s be honest, there *will* be rocks along the way. That’s life, and as I say often, life isn’t always rainbows and sequins. To say otherwise is to live with your head in the clouds.

Getting back out of the clouds though, let’s look at an alternative view to those rocks…

"Gordon Bryan", "Reculver"

The fear of the rocks is underpinned by the idea that tripping over them will stop us. What if tripping over them *didn’t* stop us? What if we got back up, realised we were ok, that the world was still turning, that we were closer to our goal than we were before, and that it was ok to keep going!

It could be that they aren’t all big rocks anyway, maybe some of them are only pebbles, that we won’t get tripped up in the first place.

That’s why the image answers the fear about the rock by saying ‘yes, and?’
The point is to accept the possibility of obstacles in life as part of life. We’ll have obstacles come our way in life even if we try and stand still, so why not press on?

Why not choose to take control, to choose to take the steps and just find out what happens, rather than assume the worst – you never know, it could work!

So, look to your goals – have you even seriously thought about your genuine passions and joys, set goals and plans? If you have, is the fear of potential rocks in the way keeping you rooted to where you are?

Maybe it’s time to start moving forwards, and deal with the rocks as and when they come. If you do that, you can be on the way to some amazing adventures, it can be a life changer.

Let me know what you think – what rocks might be in your way..?

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget to grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula to help taking on those rocks!



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Leave a Reply to Patricia Swanepoel X

2 Comments

  • I personally think the biggest “rock” in the way tends to be one’s self. We hold ourselves back the most. One of my favourite sayings is one a friend always uses “But what if I fall? Oh darling, but what if you fly?”

    Visisting from Ultrablog.

    • Oh yes!
      You are right that the biggest ‘rock’ is the one we put there ourselves, and it’s far more dangerous than any we’ll come across in the ‘real world!
      I love your friend’s saying, I’ve seen variations on it, in fact it’s on my list to write about, but I like that version!
      Thanks for stopping by!
      Cheers,
      Gordon