By Sherylynn Niezen – Email
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to open something, say a granola bar or cereal bag, and the dumb thing just wouldn’t open? Maybe at first you get caught off guard that the wrapper didn’t open so, no big deal, you use some extra muscle to try and rip it open. Then, after zero success, you try the other end with a bit of annoyance and a lot more muscle. When you still can’t get it open, at this point quite frustrated and even hungrier, you try a new approach: using your teeth. Perhaps you have to resort to finding a friend to help you, or go on a hunt for some scissors, or maybe you just give up and convince yourself you didn’t really want to eat anyways. In the end though, if you don’t give up, your use of multiple approaches and sheer determination to outsmart the packaging gets you the result that you want.
Don’t eat a lot of packaged goods? Okay, how about this, have you ever tried to move something large, like a bookshelf or a desk, by yourself? Obviously, it would be easier if you had someone else to help you but as the situation goes it just ends up being you and the large object. It’s awkward and will require some strategy on your part but you need to make it work. You approach the object from one side and it’s not working so you move to another side, then another side, trying to get this bookshelf or desk to its new location. In the end you probably have to use multiple approaches, perhaps having to slide, drag, push, and lift that bookshelf, until you get it relocated and obtain the result that you wanted.
Now, let’s think about this in another sense: Have you stopped searching and trying new approaches when bigger life struggles come at you? If you don’t understand your latest assignment, have trouble with memorization, have money issues, have trouble communicating with someone, etc. How are you dealing with overcoming these struggles? Do you branch out and try new approaches or are you stuck on repeat trying the same thing over and over again, obviously getting the same result: frustration. Maybe you are even in the habit of just giving up instead of trying until you succeed. In the terms of cereal, if you give up on getting that bag open, you don’t get any cereal, no victory. Maybe you settle for another type of cereal or breakfast food but at the end of the day you are not getting what you wanted.
If you approach life struggles with an attitude of determination not to give up until you succeed, then you will. Search out different approaches until you find one that brings you your success. Look at challenges from different angles, seek out someone that has been in the same situation, read a book on the topic, whatever works, make it happen!
