3 am

Last night I was having one of my famous bouts with insomnia. Like clockwork I pop up between 2:30 and 4:30 AM, I look over at my wife sleeping and check my phone to see the time. If I’m fortunate enough I can sometimes go right back to sleep after a minute or two. If not, I’ll either read one of the books I have on my tablet or check out the early edition of my online newspaper.

I suppose it’s just a family thing. I remember a many-a-early morning hearing my dad rustling around the house. By the time we woke-up breakfast would be going with him sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper. Like father, like son I suppose. But unlike my dad, I discovered I have sleep apnea along with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which are two things don’t well when it comes to sleep.

My reason for mentioning any of this isn’t so much to make excuses, as it is to ask the question, how we work through difficult situations? At some point each of us encounters difficult moments in life. Rather brought on by ourselves or through circumstances beyond our control, the key is how we choose to face them that measure our success. But if you’re like me, not every situation is successful; sometimes they can leave scars and can take a long time to heal.

I guess my point here is, when adversity comes how do you handle it? I mean all of us run into brick walls every-now-and-again. The key is do we simply climb over that wall? Or do we step back, reassess the situation, and figure out what put that wall there in the first place. There have been many occasions in my life where that wall was there for a reason. Maybe it’s there to tell me; hey you made a wrong turn. Or better yet, my intentions are good, but the timing is all wrong.

These are things you have to consider before grabbing the sledgehammer and dynamite. Because rather we like it or not, adversity or the occasional bout of insomnia might be there for a reason. So take a moment and find out.