The great philosopher king, Marcus Aurelius, once said, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
While I’m no expert in Roman emperors or Stoic thinkers, through reading and exploring Ryan Holiday and other’s work related to these topics, I’ve found inspiration that can be applied to my life…learning in the flow of life one could say 😉!
This quote and mantra is not always easy to follow, but can have huge benefits. Just this past weekend two examples worked out really well when at first glance the impediment or obstacle could have derailed my weekend.
First, on Friday evening I was checking out our boat before a planned outing in the morning. I found a hole in the gas line likely chewed by a squirrel 🐿️.
While I was initially upset, I quickly pivoted. I was thankful I did the inspection before we were on the water and I would have an opportunity to learn how to replace the hose, which would be useful in the future. I went to Cabela’s and bought the hose kit for our boat 🚤, although I quickly realized that it would take a bit more time so I decided to make plans to golf Saturday morning instead.
I teed off in the first tee time at my favorite golf course that miraculously had a last minute cancellation and proceeded to shoot one of my better rounds of golf ⛳️ on the first 9 at 3 over par. On the 10th hole, I was next to the green after 2 shots on a par 5, and poised to continue my good round when a thunderstorm ⛈️ popped up out of no where with hail and lighting surrounding us.
I was a bit afraid for a few moments when the lightning was close and the wind started picking up, but when I saw a break in the storm, I rushed to the clubhouse. I looked at the radar and decided that while I really wanted to finish my round that had potential to be my best round in 10+ years, if I went home, I could spend time with my family.
When I arrived, I was greeted by a “Monster Breakfast” made by my wife Heather to enjoy with she and the kids. It was delicious!!!
The rest of the day and weekend turned out to be excellent with more golf with the family and boating on Sunday after I fixed the hose.
The squirrel 🐿️ chewing a hole in the gas line and hail storm ⛈️ were obstacles or impediments that could have derailed my day or weekend, but instead I responded to make lemonade out of lemons and good things happened!
These obstacles are relatively small in the grand scheme of things, especially in light of the current news 📰 in the United States and all over the world, but I suspect the same thinking could be applied to almost any obstacle.
What’s your experience with obstacles big or small? Does this stoic thinking work for you?
Learn In The Flow Of Life
Jason
Opmerkingen