The 3 best ways to overcome roadblocks and be unstoppable in your life

Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her life was perfect and without struggle until the day she died. The end.

No plotline like that has ever been written. It’s unrelatable because that’s not the way we actually go through life. We experience obstacles and hardship, and I think that’s a wonderful thing!

But if you’re wedged up against a roadblock in your life right now, you might not be feeling so wonderful. I’m here to say: don’t wish away this struggle. The insight and lessons it holds are invaluable to you.

I’ve experienced many downfalls personally and professionally so far in my life, and I can tell you that without them I wouldn’t be the woman I am proud to be today.

Here are my top three tips to help you face, challenge and overcome whatever’s blocking you.

1. Reframe it

After graduating from four years of Naturopathic College and studying all summer, I failed one of my five licensing exams. Instead of getting my confidence down, I chose to see the exam as a puzzle I needed to figure out.

Reframing a problem into a puzzle builds grit, which is the ability to try, fail, learn and then try again, harder. Just because you don’t bust through that wall on your first try doesn’t mean you won’t. It may be more your 31st try, but you will!

(Luckily on my second try, I passed with 91%.)

If you consistently reframe each obstacle in your life into a puzzle that has a solution, and commit yourself to solving it, you’ll overcome it every time because you’ll always keep digging to find whatever resources you need to get through it, and you learn how deep and powerful you truly are.

2. Visualize the ideal

The easiest and quickest way to bust through any obstacle is to be in love with what’s on the other side of it.

After failing that exam, I started a corporate wellness company, which also failed. Truth be told, I wasn’t in love with that business. But I’m madly in love with my new business Brownroots Baby, and I have exciting goals and visions for what I want to achieve. That’s my drive.

Close your eyes and think about what this obstacle is blocking you from. What’s the ideal? How does it feel? Imagine, down to every last detail.

If something amazing is on the other side, you’d make short work of that silly little roadblock and do a happy dance on top of it! But if you don’t even see that possibility, then what’s the point? There’s no motivation to move through what’s standing in your way.

Get clear on what you truly want, and the obstacles in your life shrink into snack-size bits.

3. Don’t say “can’t”

A mentor of mine always says, “If anyone has ever done it, you can do it.”

“Can’t” is a swear word in my house. That’s your ego keeping you small, scared and disempowered. Commit to overcoming the word “can’t,” and you’re way ahead of the game because I can guarantee it’s the root cause of most obstacles in your life.

After my first baby was born by unplanned c-section, I set a goal to have a natural birth next time. And when I was in labor the second time, there were many times I wasn’t having the best time. It was hard. But saying, “I can’t” would have made it so much harder.

Instead I said, “I can and I will” (And I did).

Try it! You instantly feel stronger, more engaged and empowered in your life. Strong, engaged, empowered people bust through obstacles.

When you say “can’t,” you throw a roadblock in front of the roadblock. You accept defeat and are no longer trying.

And here’s the secret: we all hear those voices. The ego is a part of all of us. “What if I fail? What if it’s hard? What if it hurts?” Just don’t listen to that anymore. Dive in feet first and trust that you can and you will, and you’ll always figure it out.

Believe in yourself. I want to remind you: this is your life. You get one shot. Light a fire in your heart and be unstoppable. Things beyond your wildest dreams are on the other side of the obstacle you’re seeing right now. Show up. Be brave. Bust through!