Frustration Can Be a Growth Opportunity

Has this happened to you?  You go on a diet, and end up gaining weight; start an exercise program and you're super stoked and then get injured and sidelined; find your perfect soulmate and the qualities you loved about them are now qualities that irritate every cell of your being; start a fitness challenge and then have to travel for work; start a new job with a cool boss and they leave the company or better yet - they turn out to not be as cool as they were in the interview.  All of these things are examples of life and life's golden opportunities.  Wait, did you say opportunities?  Yes, I did.  

Bumps in the road of life are inevitable.  If it was a smooth, paved highway we would get bored.  Maybe you are there right now.  Maybe there are no bumps, things are smooth sailing and you are super comfortable.  Good for you....but I challenge you to get uncomfortable.  

Back to "life's golden opportunities" or what you might term as "roadblocks."  I feel like I have these on a daily, if not more hourly basis.  Sometimes they are big roadblocks that ask me to radically change my way of living.  Sometimes they are small ones that ask me to approach my typical (always right, always perfect, always MY WAY DARN IT) behavior in a different manner.  

Just this morning I woke up feeling as though I got up on the wrong side of the bed and I had to go to swim practice.  The entire practice I felt frustrated like I was moving backwards instead of forward with my progress.  We had to do an uncomfortably long workout that I deemed not thrilling from the start.  After finishing the workout, I was left frustrated because other people were expressing their success and all I felt was failure.   As we left the pool, one of my teammates says, "that was really hard" and I sassed back like a 12-year-old  that it wasn't hard at all.  I was immature and I felt it.  I was shut down at this time, nothing anyone could say (including my supportive boyfriend) wasn't going to sink in because I wasn't open to feedback or coaching.  It was like I had my arms crossed, hands in fists and stomping my feet on the ground, screaming.  It's funny how we go back to our childish ways when we don't get what we want.  

I quickly realized that I didn't get the workout that my teammate got because I chose not to.   I chose to take it easy.  I chose not to be challenged.  I chose to be comfortable.  In choosing comfortable, however, I was more uncomfortable than ever.  I just wasted an hour of my life that I'll never get back.  My typical behavior is to close off, shut down and tell everyone to screw off for a solid day or so.  I'm learning that gets me nowhere fast.  Instead, I picked up the phone and called my coach and asked him for help.  He told me that he sensed my frustration and just let it be.  Clearly I had to let it go in order to be coached.  We spent an hour working on swimming technique and talking about my personal roadblocks - all of which I create.  I learned that in order to make progress, I need to be uncomfortable.   The solution is not a quick fix, but the roadblock that I created manifested into an opportunity just by shifting my attitude that way.  

The next time you are in a group exercise class, on a diet, having a confrontation with a significant person in your life, stuck in traffic behind a tractor, or just dealt a funky situation....see what rises up.  If it's frustration, what can you do with it?  Can you let it fuel you to move forward?  Can you use it to create an opportunity?  Only you get to choose your way to move forward.  Even if it's bumpy, challenges society's norm or your normal way of acting, see how it can catapult you forward instead of setting you back.  You'll be surprised that shifting the simple belief of these as "opportunities" instead of "setbacks" will drastically change your life.