When I was making my film, “Raise Up: The World is Our Gym,” I experienced a roller coaster of emotions and experiences.

From 2012 to 2014, I was flying high (literally) — gallivanting around the world to countries I’d never visited, eating great food, meeting amazing people, making lifelong friendships and simply having the best time of my life doing what I felt like I was born to do.

But from 2014 to 2016, I hit one of the lowest points of my life when it came time to do the real work of making this film.  With the stress of trying to single-handedly tell a story of this magnitude — compounded by a broken heart, bruised ego and a ton of debt — I was simply lost.

I had no idea how to get around the obstacle that was in my way.

All of us will experience this problem at some point.  That’s because life is nothing but a series of obstacles for us to overcome.  The obstacles aren’t going anywhere.

The only question is: are we?

There is one way to approach an obstacle.  Like most things that will contribute to our successes, it is simple in theory, yet difficult to execute.

Think about an obstacle as a mountain.

Many times we sit at the foot of that mountain, covered by the shadow of the peak towering so high above us that we can’t figure out any way to surmount it.  We think of ways we can cut corners, or speed up the process, or avoid the process altogether. Sometimes, the size of the mountain strikes such fear in us that it causes paralysis and we just quit.

But like anything, the process is just a series of small, but consistent steps.

The best thing to do is not look all the way up to the top of the mountain, but rather to the next 100 yards.  Plan out your strategy and timeline to reach that next milepost then simply put one foot in front of the other, again and again.  

Then repeat.

Obstacles often create a cruel paradox where when we need help the most (i.e. the hardest times) we aren’t in a position to make it easier on ourselves, but rather presented with plenty of opportunity to make our situations worse.  This is when we are digging our hole deeper — working our butts off but literally moving backwards.

For me, this was trying to find the money and time to finish “Raise Up,” when I had no time or money to give.  I couldn’t afford groceries sometimes, so I’d put food and other necessities on my credit card, which in the long run would cost me so much more money and cause my debt to actually increase.  I couldn’t afford to do the routine maintenance on my truck that would keep it running efficiently for a longer time, so I ended up paying for it later when inevitably the transmission would fail and put me deeper in the hole.

On the flip side, when I finally sold the movie, I could pay off all my debts and even learn to use credit cards to my advantage.  Since I was showing decent income, I could finally refinance my house (after years of being declined) and save myself $450 a month.  This is what’s referred to as the snowball effect. I’d crossed over the summit. Now that I had momentum, I could use it to make my forward progress even easier.

Whether we are trying to build strength, save money, or get our confidence back after a breakup, the only way we can reach our goal is to go through those dark times.

That’s the point of it all.

Ryan Holiday tell us in his book “The Obstacle is the Way,” that we don’t control what happens to us, but we do control how we respond to what happens to us.  During those challenging points of the journey, we are actually gaining the skills and knowledge necessary for us to be successful later.  We need to lean into the obstacle, not avoid it.

It’s not about seeing the “silver lining,” it’s about making the obstacle work for you.

Just yesterday I taught a workshop on how use video to tell great stories with limited time and resources, and I write weekly about the struggles I experience and how I overcome them.  I have literally taken what I used to view as flaws and failures and turned them into how I make my living.

As Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and classic stoic, famously said:

“The impediment to action becomes the action.  What stands in the way becomes the way.”

It doesn’t matter what the obstacle is, the only way around is through.

We just need to put our heads down, keep our feet moving, and trudge forward.


Picture via Rain Bennett

Rain Bennett is a two time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, fitness professional, public speaker, and writer. His mission is simple: to help people realize that they too can be great, no matter where they come from or what they start with. It just takes passion, persistence, and a plan.

Bennett directed and produced his first feature length documentary in true indie fashion by traveling the world with only a backpack and a Canon DSLR camera. That film, Raise Up: The World is Our Gym won “Best of the Fest” at the Hip Hop Film Festival NYC and received global distribution through Red Bull Media House. He’s been featured in publications like Men’s Health and Sports Business Global and is a regular contributor to Breaking Muscle. When he’s not making movies or training clients at Sync Studio in Durham, he’s hosting a new webseries called The Perfect Workout Show.