Like many things in life, quite serendipitously and thanks to my friend Grace Luis of Long Beach, NY, I recently joined a writers' group that meets every Monday and the first Thursday every month at the Long Beach Library. This turned out to be an experience I wish had graced me earlier. But nothing happens to before its time. Anyway, from now on, I will post some of the stuff I write for the group. Here they come:
For my first Thursday assignment the prompt was, "I have a limit."
Once I read somewhere that until you try the impossible you
don’t know what’s possible. In that case, I must be trying the impossible
often, especially when it comes to my family, because I have many breakdowns, a
clear indicator that I have reached my limit. I have also read that breakdowns
lead to breakthroughs and necessity is the mother of invention. One must constantly push the envelope. In
other words, reaching one’s limit may be actually a positive occurrence and how
does one really know one’s limit until one is face to face with it? And then
the bigger challenge is how to overcome the limit? Or can they even be
overcome?
True that I might be aware of my limit with respect to mountaineering
skills, or, my running abilities, or even my level of tolerance for “nonsense.”
Yet, only by pushing ourselves do we also push the limit we might erroneously
set for ourselves. Yet, stepping outside one’s comfort zone is hard but walking
away from a challenge is also no less hard. Oh, all these eternal dilemmas one
has to deal with. To push or not to push!
In some cultures, being a female is a limitation, being a
minority is, the corporate glass ceiling is, the biggest kahuna of them all,
death is a limitation but if we are focused on the limitations, the world would
come to a standstill. It’s those who push the limits who move the world
forward. Even conclusions which seem rock solid at one time and thus seemingly end
further exploration turn out to be outdated once these foregone conclusions are
challenged and new discoveries are made. This is when a flat world becomes round.
All don’ts, cant’s and all other ‘nts are someone or yourself putting a limit on
you. Don’t question authority is my favorite. Ha! Limits are often imposed on
us because this is one way the self-centered remove competition. But the worst
limitation is the one we put upon ourselves. We do this because of the fear of
failure or laziness or some kind of previous bad experience. The once bit,
twice shy factor.
My conclusion is that the only real limit we have is the
limit we put on ourselves and the limit imposed by death, of course. In some
belief systems even death is not a limitation. As long as you have unfulfilled desires and
urges to conquer the limits you perceive, you will come back to this earth to
see all your dreams through.
Are limits ever good, though? Yes, they are. This is why we
secure a crib with rails and have a brake in our vehicles to quote just a
couple of examples. Overeating and boring conversation must have a limit. But
overall, “I have a limit” is a crippling thought and we must try all we can to
reach our full potential which must be our last frontier. No other barrier
should be. Being at the top of our game must be the goal we need to set for
ourselves and this goal actually delimits all our limitations. The peak of the
mountain top must be the only limit we must accept. That is the only true
limit. Where else can one go after reaching the summit? The sky? Oh, yes, of
course the sky is the limit.
Ciao!
Ro.
