Limitations

I think we all realize that there's only so many things that we can get done in a day or in an hour. I realized today, however, that I limit myself. These limitations are crippling sometimes as I convince myself that I'm confined to my box of knowledge, gifts, and talents without the ability to stretch beyond it.

I've been looking at my barriers all wrong. Barriers should be motivation to climb, to reach beyond myself. They're not confinements; they're challenges. For instance, all through my college experience, I've told myself that I'm not good at speaking out loud in class. Instead of seeing this barrier as an opportunity to improve my speaking skills, I refrained from talking in class. I convinced myself that it was better to let other people make their observations, even if I didn't agree.

After having several wake-up calls this week, I'm appalled at how many times a day that I tell myself that "I can't do this" for whatever reason. I'm appalled at how lazy I've become and how many mornings I tell myself that I have no reason to get up that day. Of course, the realization hurts. Defenses start coming up and it's tempting to justify my actions and thoughts, but then I have to be honest with myself and I realize that there's just no excuse that could save me from the truth.

The motivation that comes from being honest with yourself is empowering. It saves me from having to justify my thoughts, feelings, and actions. It takes up energy to keep a lie going, even when that lie is to myself. It feels good to let that go.

Don't get me wrong, it takes energy to be honest and be able to admit when people are right, but the nice thing about being able to do that is that I can do something about it much faster. I don't have to wait until I can't ignore it anymore, I can do something about the problem right when it happens.

But I think my favorite part about being honest with myself is that it's much easier to be happy when you're not beating yourself down.