Our heads incessantly play our heart’s fantasies. The hair ripping truth we have to internalize is that these desirable fantasies we project will never come to fruition without the acceptance of challenge. We must get in the habit of embracing all the challenging opportunities that cross our awareness. Without challenge we remain stuck in a hollow state with only our pounding thoughts to deal with concerning the person we know we are capable of becoming. Instead of doing the work, we fight ourselves with one excuse after another wishing our way out. Most of us even have a sense deep down that we are capable of achieving our fantasies, but we remain at a plateau due to fear or laziness.

Eckhart Tolle said that

“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there’.”

Unfortunately, you can’t create a force field that banishes all challenges from your life. They are an integral part of our existence. They are the nutrients to which your brain and soul feeds for growth. You can’t have the good without the bad. If you ignore the challenges early on you may come head to head with an even harsher challenge later on that will set you on your ass and force you to accept that challenge and unwillingly change. The great thing about the challenges we receive is:

“God will not give you more than you can handle. If you face a big challenge you have a big destiny.” – Joel Osteen

Imagine the confidence you can gain from believing this quote at your core. That means when you’re at that millisecond pause right before action, you will feel a sense of trust in yourself and you will ‘know’ that you can overcome that particular challenge. That means that fear no longer plays a role, only laziness. If you choose laziness, you will only make your life harder for yourself in the long run. Instead of life opening up to reward you for all your hard work and success, you will instead receive a different present from the universe. A harsher challenge. By not accepting the original challenge you are ignoring the life lesson and the stimulus that is present to help you grow. The universe always wants you to choose growth over inaction.

“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as dead.” - Morihei Ueshiba

You may have noticed in your life that each day the universe throws in at least one new challenge to help you evolve to a higher spiritual level than you’re currently at. It is exactly the type of challenge you need for your spiritual evolution and it is always achievable. You may be kicking and screaming on the inside telling yourself how much you don’t want to carry out the action, but after you complete it, you will always feel better. I like to think of these challenges as growth opportunities. This challenge can be as simple as cleaning the dishes when you don’t feel like it. A good quote for choosing to accept a challenge is this one (just replace workout with the word challenge):

“If you skip a workout you skip an opportunity to improve yourself.”

Each challenge comes with its own level of stimuli. Some have a high intensity, while others have a low intensity. The hardest challenges have the highest levels of intensity. A challenge

“increases brain stimulation resulting in changes in the deep structures of your brain. You can tell these changes are occurring because you see yourself easily handling more and more complex stimuli in your daily life.”

As you successfully complete challenges, you will acquire reference experiences that you will later look back on and you be able to derive confidence from. These reference experiences make up your self-belief. As you make the choice to push through one challenge after the next, you will realize that the challenges that used to scare you now hardly bother you. You will become a stronger person and you will see this manifest in the experiences life decides to give you.

So the next time life decides to throw you a challenge accept it. If you ever feel like there is too much challenge in your life, that may be because you do not have enough support. It’s important that you surround yourself with positive people who provide you with the support that you need.

“To truly experience gratitude for life’s balance, we would be wise to embrace both the seemingly painful challenges and the seemingly joyous support. Both are part of life, and true wisdom lies in finding fulfillment and inspiration in both.”

Once you live through the effects of accepting life’s challenges you will see your inner strength evolve and you will become desensitized to the challenges that once bothered you. You will feel alive and accumulate enough reference experiences that you will be able to look back on and realize how much greater you’ve become. Each challenge that you accomplish will propel you one step closer to what matters most. In time, you will start to crush life and start to walk through life with ease while enjoying the process of becoming your greater self. Do more than exist.