Breaking Past Obstacles
Sitting poolside one afternoon, an actor friend of mine told me of a recent production he was in where he played the role of a cop. In one particular segment he was supposed to open a door and enter the crime scene. The set piece malfunctioned quite a bit throughout the entire run of the show and he found it difficult to actually open the door. This delayed his arrival many times and caused a struggle before each entrance. The door was ill framed and barely on its hinges. My friend said it wouldn’t take much just to kick it in and walk onto the scene. Since the play was a comedy, and he was portraying a cop, he thought, more than once, of making his entrance by kicking the door in and bursting onto the scene. He suggested that on their last performance he should kick the door in. He guessed the audience would roar in laughter. He made this suggestion to his fellow cast members who heartily approved and encouraged him to do so.
He smiled at the telling and then picked up his beverage and took a drink. He looked out over the pool and grinned. Eager to hear the rest of the story, I asked him, “What happened next? Did it work? What did his director think? Was the audience amused? Did he receive an arousing applause and high fives from his cast members?” He shrugged and said, “I didn’t kick it in.”
I was appalled, confused and shocked. I said, “Wait, what? You didn’t do it? Why did you tell me this entire story? It has no ending!”
He looked a tad bit sheepish and then said he had chickened out. After a few minutes of me mercilessly making fun of him, he admitted that he wished he had kicked it in and even went on to say he would probably regret not kicking that door down the rest of his life.
My friend told me that story over seven years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. So many times, in life there are rickety ole doors keeping us from something we want to do. They are closed doors to our dreams, an obstacle preventing us from success and happiness. They aren’t strong barriers, and honestly it would take nothing to knock those babies off their hinges and burst into the next scene of our life. But like my friend, we let them intimidate us. We often daydream and think how wonderful it would be to have a breakthrough, but we never actually take the initiative to do it. We talk about how great it would be to move forward and conquer our fears and inhibitions. Our friends agree and encourage us to do so, yet we still wrestle with the idea and like my actor friend, we talk ourselves out of taking a chance. I believe our greatest regrets in life will be the chances we didn’t take and the power we gave to fear. Fear’s a farce. It attempts to win by posing as something it’s not. And when you discover it’s not all powerful, you’re not afraid to confront it anymore, or to kick it out of your way.
What’s on the other side of your door? A relationship? A promotion? A reconciliation? Have you let the door close on your dreams? It’s time to kick it in. Don’t just think about it, do it. I guarantee you; life will explode in a hearty applause and who knows you might even get a standing ovation! Kick it in today!