“We forget that things take practice.” —Deborah Adele

To be determined the winner of a sporting competition due to the forfeiture of the opponent, while advancement is given, nothing else is gained.

In many sports, a free pass such as the one mentioned above, while it may seem like a gift, often becomes a handicap. One more day, or one more week of non-competition, while it may give our body physical rest, it doesn’t improve our skill set. We aren’t challenged along the way to the advancement we were given, and so our capabilities haven’t been polished further as they often would have been with time on the court, as likely the next opponent we will meet will have been as a result of actually playing a match/game prior to ours with them.

Let’s look at another example: a musician playing with fellow musicians, whether in an orchestra, a symphony, a band, or another musical ensemble. Practicing alone with the instrument on the necessary skills, pieces, and movements is part of their individual preparation for performing. However, without attending rehearsals, they will not be able to become the musician needed for a successful live concert, nor will they be able to refine their skills on their instrument, as rehearsals provide feedback on how to refine their practice when they return to their individual work. Rehearsals challenge and therefore offer the opportunity to strengthen and solidify each musician’s contribution, so that everyone can confidently perform on the performance date.

Now, let us explore our own life journey. It has been said that life gives us what we can handle, and depending upon how we handle it, what subsequently follows is determined. Whether you are running a business or seeking a position higher up the ladder in your field of work, your desire to improve, to grow, to gain experience, to make better decisions, to reduce unnecessary stress, and to provide for yourself well will require you to embrace challenges.

Sometimes these challenges will be chosen, and sometimes they will be thrust upon you. The approach you take to challenges will determine whether you grow. If, during times of unwanted challenges and difficult, you simply seek to not have to deal with it, and choose not to understand how to either prevent the situation from happening again or be unbothered due to confidence in how to handle it well when it does, then the opportunity for growth was tossed away; on the flipside, if you step forward to engage with the unwanted event, choosing to get your hands dirty instead of throwing them up in the air in surrender, then, I have some very good news for you: the growth you needed and up until this moment didn’t have is being acquired.

I look back to when I began my business of TSLL, and what I know how to do now (on the business side of things – taxes, payroll, legal, etc.) is a person with skills I didn’t realize I would ever have to acquire pre-business. Multiple moments of frustration and stress occurred along the way as I learned what I needed to make different decisions, communicate more effectively, work with the right people, and seek the proper support to ensure TSLL remained as I envisioned it could be. If I had thrown my hands up at the first headache and said, I don’t want to have to worry about the stress of running my own company, I actually would have kept myself in a figurative box, reduced opportunities for personal fulfillment, and, knowing what I know now about taxes, actually paid more in taxes unnecessarily. I never would have thought that being a writer would also mean becoming more knowledgeable about the tax system – choosing to be a student of my taxes has helped my business and thus enabled me to continue being a writer.

I share my personal journey to reassure you of three truths when it comes to choosing a path that, while full of many unknowns, keeps energizing you whenever you engage with it, walk along it, or consider changing your life as it exists now to travel it:

1. You will encounter what feels like impossible obstacles – stress unimaginable, clouds of confusion about things you never thought you would have to know, let alone figure out.
2. Once you choose to engage with them, problem-solve, and figure them out, you gain the skills you need to stay on your journey that brings you to life.
3. The challenges while in the moment will feel never-ending at times, but they are not. They are temporary.

The growth or change you seek doesn’t need to involve a career change or anything as drastic as a complete life change. This also applies to eating for good health, sticking to a new, rigorous workout regimen to improve strength, flexibility, balance, and overall health, or improving the quality of our thoughts, thus our mindset and how we approach and engage with the world.

The challenges are happening to sharpen the skills you need to arrive at the outcome you say you want, the one you set out to achieve when you began. The challenges are the practice that are necessary in order for you to live in real time the life of your dreams.

The universe has a way of knowing what we will need to be able to do based on the direction we point our sails and the journey that awaits us. Trust these temporary moments of challenge, and so long as your guide is your true self, there is a reason you are being presented with this momentary unwanted challenge or difficult circumstance (if chosen – the struggle to be self-disciplined and stick to the workout, for example).

Let me leave you with one last truth about the importance of challenges: The length of the challenge often will be longer than you would prefer, but it will conclude before you realize it. Stick to whatever the challenge is asking of you until you see the results, the outcome, and are living the life you had envisioned (generally speaking, let go of the specifics, often the universe has a more impressive imagination of possibilities than we do), and that is where the latter half of the truth resides – keep at it until it is no longer a stress because you understand why you are doing it, and what it is giving you. A payment worth making.

When you reach that point, you will know what you can let go of permanently and will do so happily because what you have received is far more fulfilling and nourishing than doing or living as you had before. For example, as you move along your rigorous, tailored-to-your-health-needs fitness program, in time, you will begin to literally feel better in your body. Your physical pain decreases or vanishes, your mind is clearer, you sleep better, and you can do more with ease. So, even though you eventually reach the outcome you set for yourself, you continue to work out in a way that supports your ability to continue feeling this way. You find a maintenance approach that you find enjoyable and challenging enough; it is enjoyable because of what it gives you, and you realize this truth firsthand, so the investment of accepting the challenge is a payment that provides a wealth of benefits you have always desired.

As we near the end of one calendar year and look ahead to another, you may still be in the middle of a challenge that is honing your skillset, or you may be considering taking on a challenge you know is required in order to bring about the change you seek. Go forth with the four truths explored in today’s post, and proceed with confidence that the challenge is providing the support you need and will be temporary, never to be experienced again, so long as you apply the skills you’ve learned. And I do not doubt that you will.

Have a wonderful start to the week.

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