I can safely say that I have attempted to run away from every problem that I’ve ever faced in my life. In fact, I thought sprinting would be more effective until I realised my problems were going the same speed as I was. Truthfully, I tried every trick in the book and I firmly believed, at one point, that I outsmarted nature but I was very wrong.
Nature got me good! A bit of osteoarthritis in my left hip at age 35 plus a severe disc injury causing a narrowing in my spinal canal - that’s the canal where the spinal cord lives. All of these things being relatively uncommon for my age but I’m not one for sticking to the rules. I spent years avoiding a challenge in my life, putting pressure on myself, working my arse to the bone and doing whatever I could, to be someone I actually never truly want to be at all. Eventually, my body had enough and it forced me to confront what I was running from.
You know, pain is an interesting sensation. We don’t like feeling it but it’s a valuable feedback mechanism that our body uses to let us know that something isn’t the way it’s supposed to be or that there’s damage of some kind. We do our best to suppress it so we don’t have to feel anything but the more we bury it, the worse it gets until it’s almost impossible to ignore. The brain and body are an incredible team - annoying at times but incredible nevertheless.
I have seen thousands of people for over the last 10 years come up with some of the craziest and intricate strategies to avoid certain challenges or conflicts in their lives. For most of them, if not all of them (which includes me), they have wanted to or wished they could, live in a world that’s one sided - where happiness exists without sadness, pleasure exists without pain, highs exist without lows. That is a fantasy world and doesn’t exist. It is a common delusion and is leading people down the path of suffering.
Life is all about balance. Nature functions in order to maintain balance all around us, even if it seems like it’s not. Where there is an up, there will always be a down not too far behind. It is wise to approach challenge, conflict, problems and discomfort from a different perspective. A perspective that allows us to see the value and blessing rather than only seeing what could hurt or harm us. The truth is this, the more you avoid what challenges you or pains you, the more you will manifest it, create it somehow or even become it. All for the sole purpose of helping you learn and recognise how it’s serving you.
There is nothing worse than living a life wishing it to be different than it actually is and wanting so desperately to escape the reality you live in for a fantasy that will never eventuate. I believe that it is time to break the cycle and see your life and world with fresh eyes.
Have you ever been faced with a challenge in your life that you wished would go away or disappear? Did you wish that life could be different and more aligned with the way you’d prefer it to look and feel? Have you struggled or are you still struggling to heal some of those old wounds that are still causing you pain today?
If this sounds like something you’ve faced in your life and you’d like to know how to break this cycle, contact me at info@gregschreeuwer.com for a complimentary consult.