12/15/11—Moving Forward Despite Obstacles

Today's Draw: King of Swords from the Pathfinder's Tarot. What obstacles stand between you and your goals/dreams? Are they real obstacles or just excuses? And even if they are real obstacles, how can you circumvent them?

The King of Swords represents a man whose determination moves him forward despite obstacles. All this week we've been talking about the fears we hold and he comes to tell us to just move past them, fercryinoutloud.

Sometimes there are definite obstacles that exist in our life. But most of the time, our obstacles are just excuses. One of my favorites to use is "what I really need to do first is lose weight. THEN I can go on Oprah." Another I like to use is "I could afford to do that if I didn't have to spend all my money on tarot." Then there's, "I'm a single mother of two dogs! Who has the time?!"

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, in reality, the only things that stand between me and my dreams are motivation and resolve. I mean, it's not like I'm missing limbs or fresh off a lobotomy. A couple of weeks back I had a client deadline and woke to a freak cramp or arthritis or something in my hand. I couldn't pick up a fork without it being painful. But I wrote for like 12 hours that day. Because I had a deadline and was being paid by the hour. But if I were writing for my dream? I probably would have taken the day off and cursed the fates for putting pain in my hand at such a critical time.

It's not that I don't want to be a spiritual/motivational writer of the Dr. Wayne Dyer ilk. It's that making that leap is scary. It will change my life. I won't be able to cling safely to my home. Instead, I'll have to travel places and be gracious and junk. I won't be able to hunker deep within my depths and avoid others at all costs. They'll expect me to, like, be motivational and stuff. I'll no longer be so anonymous. I'm going to have to risk failure. And, perhaps more scary, I'm going to have risk success.

But the King of Swords rides a Honey Badger. He don't give a shit. He's a badass. He just keeps on moving forward.

The truth is, there are very few excuses or obstacles that hold water once you put them under the microscope. You may not be able to perform on So You Think You Can Dance from inside a jail cell, but you can still break dance. You may not be able to afford your own plane, but you can take flying lessons. Or barter for access to a plane. Or something like that. Whenever we say we don't have enough money or time, what we're really saying it we don't enough creativity to think up another way and enough determination to make it work. It just sounds better to say we don't have the time or money. That way we don't have to do anything about it.

So what are your obstacles and excuses? Post them here, along with what you want to accomplish, and we'll see what people can come up with to help you find your way around them. If you're not afraid, that is. ;)