The Self-Growth Train Podcast

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

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco

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

Send me a text!

Support the show

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

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

Hello, my dear passengers, and welcome aboard the Self-Growth Train, a podcast that combines personal stories, opinions and research in order to better guide you through your self-growth journey. My name is Frances Marie Rera Pacheco and I am your tour guide. First, I want to say thank you for tuning back into the podcast. Some of you guys have been wondering and questioning me whether I'm going to be having guests 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 to take me a couple of months, but you know what? That's okay, because when I first started the podcast, I did it all by myself. Until one day I was like wouldn't it be cool to invite somebody new every week? And then it happened. So, just letting you know yes, guests will be back. It's just going to take a couple of months before that starts again. Well, my dear passenger, the time has come to put on our seat belts as we dive into our first stop.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

Today's topic, and the topic for today, is obstacles. Obstacles are defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as something that prevents progress or achievement. I don't know about you, my dear passenger, but for me, I have faced all types of obstacles in all shapes and sizes. They come in physical ways, mental ways, emotional ways and sometimes even a combination of all three ways of them. For today's episode, my main resource is an article that I found on psychologytoday. com. It is an article by one of their psychologists, Karyn Hall. She's also the author and the podcast host of The Emotionally Sensitive Person, a podcast that finished airing back in 2019. Today, we're going to be using her article Overcoming Obstacles.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

So what exactly is the first step to zigzagging through the obstacles that life throws our way? It's actually quite simple you just have to stop. I know it sounds a little counterproductive to stop before dealing with an obstacle, but the reason that we want to stop is because we want to take a pause and we want to see what is happening. What is this new obstacle that is in our way? Or maybe it has been an obstacle that has been in our way for a while, right? So if this obstacle has been in our way for a while, we kind of want to look at it and see what it is and put a name to it. If it's an obstacle that just came in, we want to do the same thing. We want to know what we're dealing with before we're able to deal with it. So, really, if you think about it, stopping is actually quite a powerful move when it comes to dealing with obstacles, because it means that you get that clarity and you get that moment of peace before you actually have to deal with them, once you stop and think about what this obstacle is and you can put a name to it and now are ready to deal with it.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

The next step is to practice radical acceptance. Now, radical acceptance is actually quite hard to master and let me tell you, I've been trying that for 29 years and I'm still struggling with it. The reality is that all types of obstacles are going to come our way, but the main obstacles that are going to come our way are ones that we cannot control, and as an example, I can use my diagnosis of an ultra rare bleeding disorder. There's no way that I can change that. There's no way that I can wake up one day and say I no longer have factor five deficiency. So over the last 29 years, I've had to deal with the fact that this is a diagnosis that is going to affect my life and it's going to affect my quality of life as a whole and I have come to accept it Now. It doesn't mean I like it all the time, but it does mean that it has allowed me to understand hey, you can't control this. It is going to affect what jobs you're able to get, it is going to affect what activities you're able to get, it is going to affect what activities you're able to involve yourself in, but it doesn't have to necessarily take over every single aspect of your life, and you know, part of zigzagging through life's obstacles is also dealing with your emotions.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

If you're like me, I am an extremely sensitive emotional person, which means that when something hurts, I am crying, crying, crying. When something makes me happy, I am smiling, I am overfilled with joy, and sometimes it can be kind of hard to control as well. But the reality is that we have to be kind to ourselves and we have to accept the emotions that are around us. We have to accept hey, I'm feeling 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, prevent yourself from crying, but hey, you might be able to control the amount of tears that come through, or even like how much excitement you're showing out there, and the reason for this is not to prevent you from expressing your emotions, it's just to kind of like regulate how your body reacts to those emotions. Because the reality is that when you are experiencing emotions, it can also cause a lot of stress on your body, and stress has the power of affecting all types of aspects of your health. So in order to do this, you need to accept those emotions. But you can also control these emotions by simply being aware of what they are and kind of controlling like, hey, do I want this to overtake me right now, or is there a better way to deal with the emotion that I'm having? Also, who says that you have to go through all of this alone? Nobody, in fact. You can ask for input of your family, your friends and even health professionals to help you zigzag through these obstacles.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

In my case, when I started having difficulties accepting the fact that I kept losing my jobs and just felt like I was a burden because of my bleeding disorder, I actually reached out to my health professionals, like my therapist, and I was just like listen, I don't know how 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 15 steps back, and I honestly don't know what else to do right now. And she was actually the person that helped me. See, Frances, this is never going to change for you, and there's power in knowing that this is not going to change for you, because it allows you to realize hey, for instance, because you have a bleeding disorder and it's going to affect your career choices, you have to determine what do you want to do? Obviously, I want to be financially stable by myself, and that means that instead of having a full-time job, I might have to have a part-time job. Or instead of having a job where I go into an office, I might have to settle for a remote job. But you see how, by asking for input, I was able to come up with different options and different ideas of how to deal with them. This brings me to the next point.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

Sometimes you have to reevaluate these obstacles, because these obstacles can actually be a redirection 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 so used to having a job in person that thinking of having a remote job fully I don't know like it's not really something that I've thought of or considered. But then, if you think about it, back in 2019 with COVID and 2020, most of our jobs were remote and all of a sudden, something that nobody could really consider became a reality and now most people actually desire to have a remote job because that was an obstacle that brought in a new, upgraded way of working. And now people are like, hey, you know what I actually like working at home way more than going into the office. So sometimes obstacles can actually make you reevaluate how you want to live your life and they have a purpose. The great thing is that once you have purpose, you have meaning, and that is something that you need to find within the obstacles. So for me because I don't know when I might have a spontaneous bleed that might affect my ability to perform jobs that I am a part of I now realize that in order for me to take action with these obstacles right, zigzagging through these obstacles. For me right now, that means having a part-time job and hey, who knows, maybe in the future. It might mean having a full-time job that is remote, or maybe it will mean having a hybrid job, or maybe it will mean having three part-time jobs. I don't know what the future is going to look like, but I can definitely take action today to find meaning within the obstacles that are happening right now and dealing with them right. So that's kind of like what you need to start doing is with these obstacles. What meaning can I find behind them and what actions can I take in order to deal with them? Well, my dear passenger, the time has come for the last stop of the day, recap time.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

Today's episode discussed obstacles, which are simply things that can prevent progress or improvement. Now we know that the first step to zigzagging through obstacles is to stop. You want to make sure you know what you're dealing with before you start dealing with it. Right after you're aware of what the obstacle is and how you plan to deal with it, you're able to practice radical acceptance and also accept your emotions. Radical acceptance is super hard, so please, please, please, please, be gentle with yourself and have grace. It is something that takes a long, long time to master and, in terms of your emotions, your emotions are more controllable than obstacles. Why? Because the majority of the obstacles that you will face in life are going to be uncontrollables.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

The best part about all of this is that you're not alone. You have family, you have friends and you have health professionals that can help you along the way, if you simply take the time to ask for their input. Once you do, you're able to reevaluate how the obstacle is affecting your life and also see it, maybe, as a redirection to something that you might not have considered before. Finding meaning can be such a powerful move because it allows you to take action right now, in the present, and I know that a lot of times, we want to focus in the future and we want to focus on the past, but the best place to focus on is right now. So make sure to find that meaning and make sure to take action.

Frances Marie Rivera Pacheco:

Remember, self-growth is an endless journey towards self-improvement. However, you don't ever have to do it alone. As your tour guide, my goal is to guide you with the best intentions and the best research available. Make sure you follow me on Instagram, facebook and TikTok at the Self-Growth Train Podcast, and to also follow me on my new website, theselfgrowthtrainpodcast. com. As always, all the resources used today have been added to the episode's descriptions. Well, until the next stop, dear passengers, safe travels. Bye!

People on this episode