How to Escape the Riptides in Life

A riptide or rip current is a strong current moving away from the beach that can trap swimmers who are trying to swim to shore.

In that situation, people often panic and try harder to swim against the tide.

Lifeguards recommend that in that situation, what swimmers should do, is start swimming parallel to the shore (or just float on your back) and as soon as they’re past the riptide or rip current, to start swimming to shore again.

I think that we have riptides that impact us in life.

There are things we’re trying to accomplish, and it seems like everything’s pushing against us and stopping us from reaching our goal, and there are three takeaways from actual riptides that I think can be of great help.

First, when you find yourself in that situation where it seems like you’re just swimming against the tide and trying to reach your goals, try to get expert help. The advice of people who’ve been through it before and are experts in that area can help you and save quite a bit of energy and effort.

Second, if you’re finding that your efforts to overcome an obstacle aren’t working, try something else. Sometimes, the very next thing we try, after we’ve been using something that just occurred to us and it’s instinctual, might be the idea that gets us around that current.

Third, always keep your eyes on the shoreline and for me, the shoreline is your values – the things that are most important to you when you are responding to life’s challenges.

By operating from your core values, the things you believe most in, there is no challenge that you can’t overcome.