Listening to the Universe to Turn Problems into Opportunities

Does the universe ever speak to you?

Not to get all woo-woo on you all of the sudden, but sometimes the universe talks to me. (I hear voices in my head when I’m writing, too, but that’s a different story…)

It happens at different times and in different ways.

One afternoon, back when I was living in Southern California, I heard the universe speak to me loud and clear.

I was in a pretty bad headspace back then. When I graduated from college, I had just been turned down by the internship of my dreams, which I had spent the last 9 months dedicated to applying for. I spent the next year or so trying to “break in” to Hollywood, as they say. I got a terrible job as a receptionist at an editing house—spending four hours a day stuck in traffic to get there. And as I quit that job, and got another terrible job (but closer to home) I started to realize that my life was taking a different turn, that I probably wasn’t going to be the next Sophia Coppola, and that I might not even have a future in the film industry.

At the same time, in order to deal with the depression and mind-numbing boredom of the terrible receptionist job, I had eaten my feelings in the shape of Pop Tarts, cheeseburgers, whatever I could get my hands on.  Meaning, when I came out of it, I was feeling pretty fat and overweight.

Ever been fat in Southern California?  It’s not fun.

ANYWAY, one sunny afternoon, I wanted to go sit and read by our apartment pool and get some sun. But I was beating myself up for being too pale, too flabby, too unattractive to even go sit by the pool. Messed up.  All my problems were popping up and manifesting themselves as those bad feelings.

But I made myself go. I forced myself to go over there, stretch out on a plastic lounge chair and hide behind my book and my sunglasses.

And that’s about when a middle-aged man with a pot belly came to the pool, took off his shirt, and then took off his prosthetic legs and started doing laps in the pool.

And I started to cry quietly behind my sunglasses.

“OK, universe,” I thought to myself.  “You win.  I get it.  You don’t have to beat me over the head with it.  I get it.”

How can you turn problems into opportunities?

Sometimes our problems are really opportunities.

Sometimes your sticking points are the talking points of the universe.

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you’re having trouble with your blog.  You’re blogging regularly, but you’re just coming up with your topics week by week and you’re not seeing as much traction as you’d like.

Or maybe blogging has become like drinking poison—you avoid it at all costs (probably because you feel like you don’t have a CLUE what you’re doing!).

Those problems you’re having? They might actually be a message from the universe.

I say that, because I’m pretty much an optimist; I don’t like to think that problems are just problems. I prefer to think they’re opportunities—to change something, to learn something, to try something different.

Problems suck. Problems are tough. Problems come in all shapes and sizes and degrees.  But they’ve all got one thing in common: they’re all turning points.

When you’ve got a problem, you can stay stuck, or you can figure out how to go around it, get over it, or get through it.  Those are really the only options.

Success means that when you’re presented with an opportunity, you take it.

I’m bringing all this up here, because I’ve been listening to the universe a lot lately.  And I’ve also been listening to my customers and potential customers.  I hear people saying things like:

  •  “I don’t just want to be another blog in someone’s inbox, so I always question how relevant my topics are which lead me to procrastinate.”

  •  “I find it really hard to be creative and come up with inspiring posts on a consistent basis.”

  • “The amount of content I need to generate is overwhelming.”

  • “I’m excellent at coming up with topics. Sometimes when I’m on a roll, I can even pump out a few posts a week. However, I’d LOVE to discipline myself to set up a system to follow through on my own.”

  • “Just trying to fit the time in for blogging around my insanely busy lifestyle is rough.”

That, peeps, is the universe talking to me.  And I listened.  It’s totally why I created Blogstorm, and why I’m working on a killer new brand and website redesign for you guys. It’s going to be amazing! There’s going to be a new content library and all KINDS of cool stuff.

And if any of those problems sound like something your dealing with, then allow me to be the one to crack you upside the head with this message from the universe (via Warren Buffet):

Honestly, it’s irrelevant whether you invest with me to solve your problem or not, but I hope you’ll take this as a sign that it’s time to address whatever problem has been keeping you stuck.

Because it’s really just jamming the doorway to some amazing future success.  🙂

Get vulnerable with me! What’s got you stuck right now? Let me know in the comments.

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