Stop bashing your head against a brick wall – how to move through roadblocks and be awesome

Every now and again, whilst traversing this winding highway of life, you find your head smashed right up against a roadblock.

It might be that you are trying to lose weight and you hit a plateau, or you have a business idea you’re trying to get off the ground, or you find yourself having continuing health problems.

It happens to everyone and can happen in any corner of your life whether it’s relationships, money, career or health.

Traditionally we’ve been taught to problem-solve in a very independent way. To focus on the problem and find a way to help ourselves. Focus on what we CAN do rather than what we CAN’T so we keep everything in our control and stop stuff spinning out of control and making us feel like crap.

And there’s nothing wrong with that approach but I believe there is also an alternative.

Basically it’s about outsourcing. You want to get someone else’s head to help you bash that brick wall in. You are so close to the wall, you can’t even focus on it. You need alternative viewpoints, a professional opinion. The key piece of the puzzle though, is that you need to find the RIGHT PERSON, whether that be a friend or a professional, and they will help you find a way under, order, around or through that roadblock. And you might have to keep looking till you find that RIGHT PERSON.

How I found my RIGHT PERSON who helped me move through a roadblock

I’ve been running for a year now but have had ongoing issues with my calves that required me to stop for periods at a time. I’ve been trying to problem solve but everywhere I turn I was getting knock backs and nothing was working. I’ve had massages, been taught how to stretch properly, followed YouTube videos on trigger pointing for runners, taken up yoga for back and leg pain. Nothing happening, no improvement.

So I escalate. I go to see a physio, who identifies the problem is actually in my glutes, which frankly are pancakes of skin hanging from my hindquarters. As useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. My sister calls my bum a ‘leg extension’ it’s that non-existent. Weirdly, despite knowing I am the anti-Kardashian, I am feeling pretty pumped that the source of the problem has at least been identified. But then the physio and I start working together and we just can’t get my glutes firing at all. I totally respect his expertise but his technique just wasn’t working.

At this point, I’m keeping at it with the physio but I start spinning out a little bit. What if I can never run again? That’s just not an option, I decide, so I go off-piste. I find an exercise physiologist. And you know what? Success! Within a short period of time I’m seeing results, they are tiny but they are results. The thing is that although I am nowhere near back to running yet, but the difference is that now I have a CLEAR PLAN. Something to work towards.

The moral of the story

Stop bashing your head against the wall. Search out the RIGHT PERSON who can help you, and don’t stop until you do. When you find them, you will be amazed at how quickly things turn around.