Let’s talk about boogers, yep, boogers and how overcoming life’s obstacles with perspective matters.
You’ve had one lodged in your nose before—don’t lie. It feels massive. But once it’s out? It’s tiny. This perfectly sums up what overcoming life’s obstacles with perspective is all about. The challenges feel huge—until they don’t.
I know it’s not the prettiest topic to discuss, and some find it gross, but it’s highly relevant in this context.
You’ve had one lodged in your nose before—don’t lie. You feel it; it’s irritating, and you try to be discreet as you go in with your finger, but no, it feels massive.
You’re convinced it’s the size of a golf ball. But when you finally get it out, you look at it and realize… It’s tiny. Pathetic, even. And yet, the relief? It’s incredible. Like you just climbed a mountain.
That’s The Booger Principle: the idea that obstacles in life feel huge when you’re in them, but once you face them and work through them, you realize they were never as big as they seemed.
What made them feel big wasn’t the thing itself, but the space it took up in your mind. You gave it so much attention and time in your mind that it grew.
I’ve lived this, as I’m sure you have.
When I didn’t make the hockey team, it crushed me. My life was hockey (some say it still is); it felt like my whole world was imploding at the time.
What was I going to do? Hockey is all I ever wanted to do.
Later in life, I went through a divorce that gutted me. Here I am, the only one in my family to get a divorce. Now, I felt like a failure, a quitter, and I was so angry with myself.
I lost my fiancée to cancer—a grief that felt insurmountable. I went through so many emotions, from sadness to anger to frustration, and then pity for myself.
Each of those moments felt like the thing, the mountain I couldn’t possibly climb—the booger I couldn’t reach.
I’ve learned from heartbreak, loss, and setbacks that overcoming life’s obstacles with perspective is everything.
Here’s what Time, Perspective, and a whole lot of Inner Work Taught me: It wasn’t what happened to me that shaped my life—it was how I responded.
Obstacles will always show up. They might come with pain, discomfort, or loss. But if we remember that our fear, doubt, or resistance often inflates their size, we can shift the power dynamic.
We get to shrink the booger back to its real size. And look—sometimes that realization comes years later. That’s okay. But what if we could start practicing it now?
What if we could step back the next time something feels huge and say, “Okay, maybe this isn’t as big as it feels. Maybe it’s just stuck in my nose right now.”
You’re not broken. You’re not alone. And chances are, what you’re facing today will one day be a footnote in your story, not the headline.
So the next time something feels overwhelming, remember The Booger Principle—and that overcoming life’s obstacles with perspective can shrink even the messiest moments.
It only feels massive.
Here’s to digging deep (just not in public),
Paul
ZUP2U
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