How Do You Deal With Brick Walls And Other Life Obstacles?

I’ve written about metaphorical brick walls before – life’s obstacles and challenges – when I wrote about my illness and how it made me feel. I’ve written about being stopped by brick walls and, a year later, about painting the wall red and having a party. Tonight, this came to me…

Step one

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Give up.

Step two

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Try to find a way to go around the wall. Fail. Give up.

Step three

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Try to tunnel under or climb over the wall. Fail. Give up.

Step four

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Beat your head against the brick wall until you have a headache. Give up.

Step five

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Paint a mural on the wall and plant a garden near it. Live with the wall.

Step six

Discover there’s a huge brick wall in front of you. Realize the brick wall is only “in front” of you when you face it. Continue your journey in another direction.

Which step are you at? Which step would you like to be at? What are your walls?

I’m not entirely sure that all the steps are in order, or perhaps they are in a different order for different people and different events? Some people have said to me that they’d reverse steps five and six, what about you? Feedback is encouraged!

- Ricky

PS
Ria pointed out to me that this bears a resemblance to Portia Nelson’s Autobiography In Five Short Chapters and she’s totally right. I wasn’t consciously influenced by Nelson, but I do recall reading it several times before. And it’s also worth reading if this piece interests you.

Photo credit to homg_its_melanie at Flickr. Thank you.