WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, IT’S BEST TO TAKE A FEW STEPS BACK

This week, two of my close friends are facing the same problem—their love lives have hit a road block. And these aren’ t frivolous relationships; these are relationships that they have nurtured for a few years, with hopes of a future. But the current complexities make that possibility look bleak.

My friend confessed that she had spent so much time obsessing if she would get her love back that it drained her completely. And it’s not just love. There are so many times when we complicate things by unnecessarily spending time contemplating — what if a competitive colleague gets past us, what if we don’t get through the job we want, the list is endless.

But where can such thinking take us? All it will do is take us round and round in circles. It’s like sitting in a rocking chair—there is movement, but we’re not advancing.

So, what can we do? Get off that rocking chair and move ahead. Often, stepping back is the best decision that one can take in a complex situation, because that’ s the only way to gain a better perspective of things and take the right decisions.

Think of it like this: If you hold something too close to yourself, you can only see a part of it, never the whole. What may be evident from a distance may not be visible when you are too up close. The same holds true for problems as well. So, step back and step up your chance of resolving your issues.