Life is full of hardship and challenges. Everyday, we battle and struggle, we search and scratch and nothing seems to be working for us.

Landmines are military weapons used by Armed Forces around the world to terminate and destroy their enemies. It is a bomb-like object planted in the ground to stop the enemies from intruding into their territories. Literally speaking, landmines in our lives are the many obstacles that's preventing us from moving forward and achieving our God-given potentials.

Most times we feel these landmines are insurmountable, but they're easy to overcome if  only we know the little secrets.

Again, there are strategies we can use to navigate the issues in our lives. Instead of calling them issues and challenges, I choose to call them landmines.

Below, I'll be sharing with you 10 landmines in our lives and strategies to overcome them.

1.  When we allow despair to override us

Sometimes, it gets to a point when we're stuck in our lives and there seems to be no exit door to our escape. Hopelessness is one dangerous landmines in our lives we need to deal with before we can move forward. When a man is hopeless, he thinks he has lost all the vital ingredients that will give him meaning in life. For a man to kick his problems out the window, he must be focused. Challenges will come, but it takes a man of steel to trample-pass those obstacles standing on his way.

There were times in my life when I was confused and hopeless. I was asking myself if something was actually wrong with me. But in order to break through, I had to look inward. I had to realign my priorities in life. I had to ask myself some salient questions and put it down in writing. That in itself set me on the right path to optimism and positivism. I gained back my confidence and I was hopeful again.

2. When losing your self-esteem and direction in life

There are times in our lives when we seems to lose that steam that make us human. That thing that make us believe in ourselves. The insecurity issue. We cannot find those things that drive us to follow our dreams; that pushes us—those reasons why we feel alive.

I was going through the motions of life like a zombie: no meaning and direction. I didn't know which way I was heading. People were pursuing their dreams and passing me by. My self-esteem dropped and dipped, like a man falling off a cliff and heading down into a dark abyss; a bottomless pit.

I couldn't look people in the eyes and speak. My business network nosedive. Perhaps, there's a missing link in my life which I had to fix. I had to reappraised my priorities and find out what was causing the insecurity issues. And I found it. Hurray!

3.  When the blame games supersede our objectives

Humans love to blame their fellow humans. Nobody wants to take the blame. Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), parents, mentors, friends, relatives, etc don't want to take responsibilities. We're scared of losing that thing that is dear to us, so we blame and blame.

I was like that in the past. Blaming others for my problems and mistakes, thinking I wasn't at fault. I refused to take advise even when I knew it would be beneficial to me. Unfortunately, I was at the losing end. I was missing a lot and it was setting me backward.Pride was my stumbling block. It was getting in my way. The most difficult thing for a man to do is to deprogram his pride. When a man is adamant, life swept him aside and uplift those who're willing to humble themselves. I learnt it the hard way before common sense took control of my life.

I struggled with my pride but with time, I learnt to control it and I'm better off than before. People associate with those who're willing to let go of their pride and learn.

4. When we are selfish 

When a man is born, he is as pure as a purified glass of water. Nothing is learnt. But as he grows older, certain behaviors set in. One of such behavior is selfishness. A lot of people are struggling with this issue. The 'me, myself and I' syndrome.

The opposite of selfishness is love. We should learn to love others. We should learn to share and the effect it'll have in our lives will be huge. When we give without expecting nothing in return, we'll continue to experience good and positive things in our lives.

Again, selfishness was burning me out. I decided to put myself in other people shoes and feel the pinch. We should learn to position ourselves in other people predicaments and feel their pains. Let's assist the underprivileged in our society.

5. When we are impatient to get to our peak

Sometimes, we're impatient to achieve our goals in life. We want to get there now; not wanting to sweat it out. When we are impatient, we rush things through and lose focus.Take one thing at a time. Don't rush or you get burnt. Life has programmed us to take our goals, plans and dreams one step  at a time. Short, medium and long-term goals. You can't jump from zero and success. It is a process; a strategy.

I was tempted to be impatient. However, I stop along the way and think things through. I mapped out a road map. Little by little, I'm getting results.

6. When we procrastinate and our time kept ticking away

Procrastination is an enemy of our time. What should be done now, we postpone till tomorrow until it never gets done. Laziness is another best friend of procrastination. They work hand-in-hand.

Moreover, the more we procrastinate, the more we lose out in life. Time just fly by and our ages depreciate too. Then regrets set in. But it's never too late to do those things we procrastinate about.

Perhaps, if we don't start now, it might be took late to accomplish. It takes doggedness to overcome procrastination.

7. Envy and jealousy in the midst

When we envy others, we cannot move forward in life. This is so because we put aside our goals and focus our attention on the goals of others: we can't move forward with that mindset. We should learn to appreciate others and the same will be accorded us. Supporting others, lifting others and encouraging others will put us in a higher pedestrian. It'll open doors for us.

Jealousy is another thing that pulling us back. It is an emotional issue which we all struggle with. Our emotions is one thing we certainly can't eliminate but we can control.

8. When we are pessimistic about life

People who're pessimists have negative mindsets. Nothing good ever comes out of their mouth. In the long run, it affect our confidence and outlook. We all have those kinds of people in our lives, right?

Still, when we mix up with those sets of people, we're indirectly destroying our plans and our future. The people who associate with have a negative impact in our lives.

9. When we are the dream killers in other people's lives

Yes, dream killers are those that will do anything to bring anybody down. They aren't happy when others are succeeding. They are unhappy until they achieve their aims of maneuvering people to be below them.

It is either people are below or at the same level with them. People can't surpass them. Again, they're always in a sad mood, because their friends are achieving and they are not.

Unfortunately, this attitude drains us, we can't move forward. We're stuck and boxed in a corner.

10. When we accumulate bad habits in our lives

Bad habits are ruining our lives on a daily basis. These are things we've learnt over the years and unlearning it is almost impossible. Common habits like smoking, drinking, masturbating, pornography, etc are a few of our bad habits. I was indulging in masturbation until I was delivered through self rediscovery. Learning to unlearn these bad habits takes time and efforts.

It is one step at a time. They say it takes 60 days to learn a habit. So, it is not something you can just unlearn within a short period of time.I wish you the best in life. You'll overcome your landmines. Stay focused, stay positive.

I hope you have learnt one or two things from this article. You can follow or visit my blog at http://securitymattersafrica.com

Good and uplifting write up, nice one op.
By the way,


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