Embracing Life's Obstacles

When we hit an obstacle in life, which is just a matter of time, we have three choices: first, stop; second, keep going with a frown, hating every moment of it; and third, keep going with a smile on our face, fully embracing it.

Facing an obstacle with a frown or a smile is a choice! Stoic philosophers call it reframing. The “bad” weather is only “bad” if I label it that way. Stoics would also tell us that most things that happen to us in our lives are neutral; we just choose to label them as positive or negative. 

I rarely stopped at obstacles, probably because the immigrant engine, once it was started by our moving to the US, kept on running, propelling me forward. But there were plenty of times when I kept going forward with plenty of negative emotions; I felt like it was something I had to do, a life that was imposed upon me rather than one I had chosen and thus wanted.

I didn't know at the time that I was exhibiting a typical victim mentality. If we are going to go through challenges anyway, we have an active choice to make: be miserable, resenting what we are doing while we’re doing it, or embracing our fate. If we choose the latter, we'll have a better, happier life, and we’ll go further with a smile on our face rather than a frown.