Today was supposed to be about resetting limits and the courage to embrace the unknown. And as dramatic as it sounds, what I mean is that the skydive experience that I planned with a few friends had to be postponed.
I think it’s kind of fun & annoying at the same time when life comes along with its own plans and messes with yours. I do believe it’s a tipping point however because you are free to choose: you can cheat and go further with your agenda or accept the situation and readjust your route.
This time, I decided that it would be better not to push things and have faith that it was the right thing to do. Leaving the details aside, this whole experience was supposed to come up with a story about limits:
How do we make it easier to overcome them, what should we learn regarding this, and how do we differentiate between those that take us further and those that are healthy to have.
I think it’s quite an interesting discussion to have and with or without having jumped off a plane, I’m going to tell you a story about limits and a reminder that I wear every day.
I’ve got this ring a year and a half ago, while I was visiting some friends in Cluj. Do you relate to those moments when it feels like certain things are speaking to you? It felt just like it! It didn’t take too much thinking to buy it because I saw it as a reminder of what limits are most times. (Well, to be honest, I kind of got it also because I thought it looked fabulous, but that’s another story).
Anyways, back to the story:
If you look at it from the front, it looks like a square-ception kind of, right? A square in a square, a small quadrate surrounded by a bigger one, or: a quadrate limited by the bigger one.
But! There’s always a but.
If you look at it from behind, what you see is that the bigger square, the fence, the “limiting frame” is born out of the small one. It’s an extension of it.
Just like our fears and limits, or should I rather say perceived limits? They are nothing else but extensions of our minds. And just as the large square is connected to the small one, what I’d like you to remember is that your limits are just the same: as big and strong as you feed them to be.
OVERCOMING LIMITS 101:
1. YOUR PACE AND ITS IMPORTANCE: WHEN AT AN ART-EXPO, DON’T FORGET TO ENJOY THE DETAILS.
Overcoming limits should happen at a natural and reasonal pace. I know that you feel that patience might not always be your strength and your ambitions are big but do remember that when you get ahead of yourself too fast, you might miss important contextual lessons. Give yourself time to experience and more importantly, give yourself time to process those experiences.
Sometimes I imagine life as a huge art-expo with so many outstanding galleries to explore, that I just feel the fear of missing out on some of them due to time limitation. And I know there are times when you want it all. But remember that running towards them all makes you miss the most important thing that both: art and life have to offer: Details and perspective differentiators.
What’s the point of going through the whole expo if, in the end, you can’t remember what made your heart skip a beat? And life is just the same.
2. SOME LIMITS ARE HEALTHY
Take good care of yourself and listen to what your mind and body need. Life is an amazing journey and if you want to get out of it as much as possible, which I assume you want, you need all the strength and energy available to do so. Therefore: when you need 12 hours of sleep, sleep for 12 hours, when you need to see your friends, instead of working an extra hour, go see your friends, and when you need a break, make sure to take that break.
3. IS GROWING CONFIDENCE SO HARD? NO, BUT IT TAKES TIME.
It is going to get easier. The more experiences you’ll go through, the more wisdom you’ll grow, while your decision-making skill will improve. It’s a process. Be patient, but be brave. Patient enough to understand that building confidence takes time and brave enough to have the courage to explore the unknown and those unpaved routes. You need both successes and failures. Successes so that you gain confidence and go for the extra mile next time and failures so you learn that what doesn’t kill you makes you smarter and stronger.
I believe that when you learn to accept that both successes and failures are part of who you are becoming, you start seeing life as an exciting adventure filled with surprises and limits just as milestones placed in between chapters.
And that’s what is wonderful about it.
