Is There A Bottom?

​Sometimes when I see a challenge in my life it seems easier to just look at the first possible option and dismiss it out of hand with a simple solution.  While this may work in some situations, if that same problem keeps showing up, I know there’s much more than the surface issue at hand.
 
Do you ever have that nagging thought when you are “in the middle of it” that: here we go again…that sense that you keep having the same issue come back time and time again?
 
Yeah, me too, and I don’t like it very much.
 
There are so many names for it: flaws, character defects, ‘issues’, challenges, personality traits, genetics, flaws, failings, foibles, glitches, shortcomings…I mean, I could literally go on for days with this list.
 
What I’ve learned over the years is this: when one of mine arises and I don’t address it, but rather step aside and let the opportunity pass, it comes back around, even faster each time.  This is the Universe giving me a chance to right that situation, better myself, address the challenge head on and come out the other side for the better.
 
And I don’t necessarily act the first time it’s presented to me.  Until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change, I’ll just sit in that pile of ick until I must move. 
 
Now for some of you who may be constantly working on bettering yourself just for the sake of doing so?  Good on you.  But for me, it takes work.  I’d rather have the outcome without the pain, without the self-discovery, without the gross parts that have to come up, come out and be flushed.  That crap is painful, and I don’t like it very much.
 
But the freedom on the other said?  Ahhhhhhhhh…
 
So when a friend called and shared about a couple of past incidences with a sport’s competitor and a fellow board member, I instantly was reminded of how quick I am to think: oh Greg, you just have a problem with authority.  When in truth, when I go a little deeper, it’s more a challenge with my self-worth and being good enough to deserve (blach, it doesn’t have to be earned) all the good in life that it has to offer.
 
So, the next time you get to see the same challenge over and over, I encourage you to go a bit deeper and ask yourself what the underlying cause might be.  There’s a lot of freedom on the other side of the pain you will go through to clear it away.
 
Happy digging!!

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