By Wanda Carter, MSM, BA, APS

Wanda photo Obstacles are challenges, problems, difficulties that people face in their daily travels throughout life. Each issue can be addressed independently by a person, or as a collective bargaining unit with one or more people. An individual’s approach to a situation becomes his or her innovative design for the resolution to the problem.

This story is about a man who grew up thinking he could out smart everyone he came in contact with – because he had been able to manipulate his family all of his little life. He didn’t realize that his family loved him so much that most of the things he did that were mischievous or wrong – they just over looked because they thought he needed something he wasn’t getting from his parents. But that didn’t work, it only made him think that he could get away with stealing, lying, and manipulating people he came in contact with which really began this make-believe world of deception that he created for himself.

One day he stole from a stranger and was arrested and sent to prison. He quickly learned while there that nobody cared about him and that he wasn’t very smart after all. There he was faced with the reality that he needed to work on his consciousness, the way he lived his life, talked to his children and communicated with his wife. He realized that they were his life, he lived for them and in prison he could only see them when they could afford to drive 5 hours to see him. Things were different in prison, everything cost twice what it did on the outside and if nobody sent him money, he would not be able to buy personal items, food, or even call home. He would be destitute.

Until he was released, his family was all he talked about. He was going to do everything he could when he got home to teach his children how to live a meaningful life. He didn’t want them to experience the life he had created for himself. He hated authorities and had repeatedly failed to comply with most rules and regulations, but things were going to be different when he came home.

He pledged to be a better person when he got out. He said that he would think critically before acting, learn to manage his temper and love those who loved him, and to stay out of trouble. He’s been out for 5 weeks, let’s see what he does.
This next synopsis is about a young 21-year-old woman who lives at home with her mother. She’s like most young people, hard-headed, thinks she knows more than her mother, but doesn’t earn enough money to move out on her own. It’s come to past that she really listens to her mom even when she acts like she doesn’t. It took her two years after high school to realize she needed to go back to school to acquire a degree so she could do the things in life that she wants to accomplish. Over time she has realized that the jobs she has worked at over the past couple of years will never pay enough for her to live the life style she wants, so she decided that she would return to school to create a better economy for herself. She finally got it, work smart not hard. When she’s done with her degree, she’ll be able to get the vehicle she wants, share an apartment with a friend and live independent of her mother’s supervision. Life really is what you make it and now she knows that truth as well. One day she’ll look back on this phase of her life and realize that her mother was only trying to guide her in the right direction.

Most parents want their children to do better than they have done but their efforts usually go unacknowledged until the youth has had a few of life’s little lessons. Mom is your best friend, she’ll always look out for your best interest, she’ll feed you when you’re hungry, and chastise you when you’re wrong, but she’ll always be there when you need her, so thank God for moms.

Obstacles make us better people because they force us to think our way around the bumps in the road. They help us learn from our mistakes, listen when we are angry, and ponder before we say something we know we’ll regret later. Obstacles are life’s little hindrances that depict our missed opportunities, the failed plans, the inexcusable mistakes we make when we do the very thing our mothers have told us not to do. Until the next time, think before you act…

By CCNM

I have functioned as a Business and Media Consultant over the past sixteen years and spent many years developing my capacity to function in our ever evolving use of technology, communication, education and training.