Life isn’t hard. The problem is wrong ideas. If your head is full of wrong ideas, you’ll fail to fix your life. One of those wrong ideas is seeking to pursue a life that’s free of challenges. You cannot avoid challenges. You cannot choose your own challenges, either.
Challenges, difficulties, setbacks, obstructions – all of them are an essential part of life. It’s natural!! Challenges are like the vegetables you didn’t want to eat when you were a child. Even though they were good for you, you tried to avoid them, but your parents made you eat them anyway. And now that you’re grown, you understand the wisdom of eating your vegetables. However, you’re still avoiding other challenges in your life that can nourish you.
Most of our challenges come from other people, especially our family. The emotional response to challenges is an unpleasant feeling. Many of us flee from the unpleasant feeling more than the challenge itself. Let’s say there’s a loved one who occasionally says things you don’t like. You don’t have a problem with the person, you’re trying to avoid the unpleasant feeling that the person conjures up within you. The problem is your feelings, not the person. You don’t have much control over what people say and do, but you have complete control to eliminate any unpleasant feelings you harbor about them.