Nov 17 2011
Everything Is Within Reach
Everything is within your reach. But you have to actually reach for it. You have to reach for the stars. If you don’t reach then you will not be able to grasp your goal.
What do I mean by that: Everything is within your reach? You might say to me, It’s too hard. What if I can’t reach those stars? I am having difficulty writing this post because I may have over extended myself. I challenged myself the reach for 4 blog post drafts in 1 hour. That may seem like a lot because most of the time I an only write 4 posts a month! When I turned 27 this year I said that I was going to hold myself to a higher standard and part of holding yourself to a higher standard is stretching your limits of what you think is possible. These posts are within reach and I can tell you that your dreams and your goals are in reach but that you have to actually reach for them.
Most limits, I believe, are self imposed. Think about what your self imposed limitations are. Maybe you think you don’t have the resources you need. Or you think you don’t have the money, or the knowledge, or your boss is a jerk, or you didn’t have the right people, or you lost money in the stock market, or whatever the countless reasons are. The fact is you can be resourceful enough and you will find a way to overcome these things. But you have to reach past your self imposed limitations.
What if you were just an inch or two away from reaching a tasty apple in an apple tree? Would you just give up. Or would you jump up and grab it? What if it was a couple feet, you say to yourself I can’t jump two feet in the air. What if you grabbed a ladder? Could you reach the apple then?
That certainly changes what’s within your reach, doesn’t it?
Okay but an apple is not a promotion, or a new car, or six pack abs. Well, maybe you need to jump metaphorically. Maybe you need to get a metaphorical ladder. Just because it’s a foot away doesn’t mean it’s not within reach with the right psychology and the right tools. This 4th blog post draft of the hour isn’t turning out so bad after all. Looks like my goal is within reach now, doesn’t it?
Writing gets easier the more I do it. It’s just like lifting a metaphorical weight. Reaching is like lifting a metaphorical weight too. The more you reach past your limitations the better you’ll get at it.
So Get moving, start reaching. Get a ladder, JUMP but keep reaching. You can do it, I know you can.
One more thing, if you get a spare moment I’d be really interested in hearing what are some examples are of times where you pushed past a limitation you believed you had. Leave it in the comments section if you have a chance!
(Interesting side note on this post: I was looking for a cool image for this post on Google Images but instead I found a Trojan virus that took out my laptop. It took a few hours but I’ve reached passed these issues! It did make me wonder, if you had the creative energy to create something that would help people, why would you choose to create something that hurts them instead? )
Nov 17, 2011 @ 01:55:48
Beautiful words dad Dan, thank you for the inspiration! I’m having a hard time thinking of a time when I overcame a self-imposed barrier but I can definitely speak to the imaginary life bear that I am currently wrestling. I’ve been having a difficult time adjusting to my new graduate school pursuits. It seems like every week I have some sort of emotional Chrenobyl. While I’m disappointed that I’m have so many ups and downs, I realize after the fact, that all of these seemingly impassible blocks are all of my own construct and can only be solved by my own will and efforts. I grow frustrated that my project is not more conservation oriented? Well, vija, get up off your arse and make it what you want! Our socioeconomic system frustrates me? Get out of the house and go stand with the other 99% of weirdos to take a stand!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 02:27:11
Thanks Vija for commenting on my blog! Emotional ups and downs effect everybody. The challenge for me is realizing when I’m within an emotional storm at the moment it’s taking place. If you can observe your own behavior at that moment it’s a lot easier to change it. That’s cool that you are going to make your Grad School time more conservation oriented! No matter what don’t get discouraged, I am sure if anyone can make the most out of their time at Grad School it’s you! Meet lots of like minded people, maybe you’ll get a MacArthur Genius award for a new conservation idea you come up with!