How to Grow Beyond Your Limitations
Have you ever had that moment when you felt like you reached your limit? Where you felt like there was nothing else you could do? Don’t feel alone; we all have our limitations and, eventually, we all have to face them.
Try thinking of a time when you hit your mental, physical or emotional wall. If you hit it hard enough, chances are you came away bruised and more than a little drained and discouraged. Oftentimes, the solution is simply taking time to regroup, recharge and level up before pushing back once more. But have you considered that that wall might actually be self-imposed and not really there?
The Funny Thing About Limitations
Yes, they’re not actually there. What most of us consider possible and impossible, while hopefully tempered with a healthy degree of realism, is often limited by our perspective and what we are aware of. Ever notice how you were so content with what you had until you realized it wasn’t actually very much compared to what others have? Or how we tend to toughen up when we realize that people have dealt with far worse than what we’re dealing with now?
“At least I’m not as bad off as him or her; it’s not as bad as it could be.” We’ve all thought this, and somehow it works! We feel encouraged that what we’re going through is manageable. It goes to show that the funny thing about limitations is that they change with our perspective.
So How Do “They” Do It?
Here’s the monkey wrench in the way of thinking: what if we happen to be “that guy” who everyone looks to as being the worst off? Suddenly this perspective of comparison turns on us. How do we keep going? What perspective should we take then? This is the dilemma of pioneers who don’t have the luxury of looking to others who did it before. By understanding how others have pushed past their limitations, we can better equip ourselves to do the same.
Seek the Greatest Motivation
Father Moon was well-known for clocking only two to four hours of sleep every night and still living actively each day (effectively living about nine more waking years than the average person who sleeps six hours a night)—all for the sake of bringing humankind back to God. Behind every feat is a motivation and perspective that anyone can learn from. For Father Moon, that motivation was love.
He taught that love was the most powerful force in existence, and that the more one’s love was harmonized with God, the more one’s heart could encompass and accomplish. His love and commitment for God and the people around him was motivation enough to break boundaries and do good no matter how hard it might be. Try asking yourself if you have the love it takes to put in the hard work needed to overcome whatever is holding you back.
Find Meaning
In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, shared a mindset he developed from his experiences in a Nazi death camp. He found that humans are incredibly flexible and that even an environment of torture and death can stop affecting us when we are constantly surrounded by it. To stay sane in the midst of the most painful and dehumanizing of experiences, he realized he needed to be able to find meaning in hardship itself.
While we’ll rarely find ourselves in such extreme situations, we can apply the lessons he learned to make everyday challenges far more bearable and even productive. By being conscious of how he interpreted his circumstances, he could begin to control his reactions and choose for himself what his limits were.
Talk to God
Generally, the more information we know, the better a response we can make. If we can learn from people who experienced the extremes of human experience, we can enhance our everyday lives without sacrificing what they did to discover those lessons in the first place.
Ultimately, isn’t the broadest perspective God’s? When you find yourself at your limit and against the wall, try having a little chat with Him to see what He’d do. You can also find a refreshing, new perspective by talking with a friend you can trust to be honest.
Once armed with a new take on the situation, we can begin to plan how to overcome the limitation or challenge at hand. Don’t forget though: realistic change happens in increments every day; make baby steps to gradually increase your skill until you can finally surpass your limitations and become the person you were meant to be.