There are times to be patient and times to press through obstacles.

How do you know the difference?

If you always turn around when you reach opposition, how will you ever get to where you are going?

If the roadblock is there for a reason, will pushing through it really get you anywhere? Sometimes roadblocks are there to protect you.

These are the kinds of questions that have plaguing my mind over the past month as I found myself looking at a roadblock I have encountered before. I usually just turn around and wait until I think the path might be open, but it has started to feel like the road will never open.

Should I remain patient, or just go around the roadblock and deal with whatever consequences may be on the other side?

Lately, my wife and I have been revisiting our finances in detail with a financial advisor. Our school debt is still enormous (although quite a bit lower than just a few years ago when we did this last). Part of this detailed financial process involves the debt snowball. You may have heard of it if your are familiar with Dave Ramsey.

As I though about the debt snowball and this process of eliminating debt, I realized that it takes both patience and perseverance. It takes patience because it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes perseverance because you have to attack the debt with everything you have, month after month after month.

I started to wonder if I can apply that to other situations where I’ve hit roadblocks. I’ve been seeing detour signs lately in regards to the situation I was referring to earlier, but I don’t know if that is the best route to take. Maybe I should patiently wait for the roadblock to be taken down and just keep checking with persistence.

I don’t really have an answer, and I don’t expect others to have one either.

I just wonder how others have dealt with being stuck behind a roadblock in life?

Feel free to share your stories below in the comment section. Did you wait patiently? Did you push through the roadblock? Was is a combination of patience and persistence?