Oh, life. It seems to have no boundaries for how crazy it can get. Miscommunications. Lost opportunities. Natural disasters. Failed relationships. Malfunctioning iCloud backups that cause your iPhone to erase ALL your contacts (Hello, 90’s).
These unfortunate events happen. And sometimes, they happen simultaneously. *insert sweat drop*
But when life gets overwhelming and you seem to be stopped wherever you go, you should get excited.
What?! You heard me right, lovely. Get excited!
You see, when life starts throwing curve ball after curve ball after curve ball in quick succession, that’s a signal for one thing:
Creative Breakthrough
These breakthroughs come in the form of opportunities. Greatness beyond our wildest dreams. Blessings from above. And the toughest obstacles are the final layers separating us from victory.
But Jamae, don’t these troubles also signal road blocks, warnings you’re going the wrong way?
You’re absolutely right. Now, here’s how I differentiate between times to stop and moments before breakthrough — intuition. Rely on that sense of peace, the sense of knowing without knowing why.
If I’m doing what’s right and my heart is at peace with my decisions, I’ll sidestep the drawbacks and continue towards my intention through a different route. It’s one thing to keep falling into the same ditch over and over again, but it is a completely different situation when you find a way around the obstacle towards your dreams.
If I had decided that my age is a sure sign that I couldn’t be a dancer, I would’ve walked away from enrolling into ballet classes. If I had decided a year ago that I’d settle into teaching since it’s what I’m “good at,” I wouldn’t have moved to Oregon to focus on my writing and to start Hint of Jam.
But here we are.
The obstacles and barriers led me here. They stopped me from getting stuck in a rut and challenged me to push forward, to find a different way. When a dam is built, the water doesn’t stop searching for cracks and crevices to push through.
And that is what sets us apart from the rest of the world, creative warrior. We’re the pathfinders. We have the gift of creativity to help us find the most efficient ways to reach our truest potential. But the key is we must actively seek these opportune moments.
Just as Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb failed several times while he still declared he’d found a thousand steps to make it work, so we must look at each obstacle as the way we should not go in order to find the ways we should.
In Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty Style and Success – Online and Off (affiliate link), Michelle Phan says, “Sometimes it’s a blessing to not get what you want.” And she’s totally right. If she had allowed the road blocks to stop her (like not getting hired at the Lancôme counter at a department store), she wouldn’t be the amazing makeup guru and entrepreneur she is today!
Keep writing. Dancing. Believing. Creating. Most of all, keep being amazing, warrior.
Write Time
Share a time when turmoil turned into victory in your life, creative or otherwise. We’d love to join the celebration!
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