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You may be surprised to learn that Chabad is actually a movement that began over 200 years ago. The leaders of the movement in each generation, called Rebbe or Grand Rabbi, were extremely inspirational rabbis with great foresight; their writings are still studied all over the world today.
In the mid 19th century, the Rebbe of Lubavitch (synonymous with Chabad - and you thought Chabad was hard to pronounce!) was called the Rebbe Maharash, an acronym for his Hebrew name Rabbi Shmuel. Although suffering from various ailments all his life (and eventually passing away at a young age), the Rebbe Maharash had a profound impact on the Jewish world. His birthday is today, the second of Iyar on the Jewish calendar.
One of his most famous sayings was (known in Yiddish as “lechatchilah ariber”): “The world says: If you can't go under [an obstacle], leap over; I say: In the first place, go over!”
What do YOU think it means to “In the first place, go over?"
Too often we get carried away with the obstacles that we face (and we all have them in our lives), we get bogged down, we start to doubt if it’s all worth it. Now, even if we eventually overcome the challenge, we’ve been weakened and we’ve lost some steam.
When we face obstacles with the mindset of “lechatchilah ariber, in the first place go over,” that means we are focusing less on the obstacle and more on the end goal. When we focus on where we are heading, and not on the obstacle in front of us, we are more likely to successfully overcome the challenge. And perhaps more importantly, when we do overcome the challenge, we are stronger and not weakened; we are ahead and not losing steam.
Amazing how a slight shift in perspective can make such a difference! Try approaching your challenges with this mindset and you will experience the difference that it makes!