Pushing Your Boundaries

Have you ever made an analogy in jest, only to have someone say to you, “you could never do that.”  Oh now, then it gets personal, as if they have just slapped you.  What you said was initially in jest, but now you come to realize, after thinking about it: “ What the hell do you know about me, to tell me I can’t do something?”  I remember when I was young, for some reason or other, making a joke to a friend that I could climb a mountain, and he said with the utmost seriousness, “you can’t climb a mountain.”  It rocked me to my core!  How insulting!  You, a supposed friend, telling me my limits! 

Such a snub!  I shrugged it off later, but the memory of my anger would surface any time someone else told me I couldn’t do something.  Eventually, I learned to realize that I should never worry much about what others doubt about me.  I know who I am, because I have and will continue to push my boundaries.  

It’s not always easy to know when to take that leap.  Especially if you’re hearing everyone else express their constant doubt in you.  “You can’t do that.” “It makes no sense.” “You’re going to get hurt.”  These people may feel like they’re looking out for you, and in some extreme cases they may be, but in a lot of cases, when pushing boundaries, they say these things because subconsciously they are afraid you’re going to succeed.  Maybe they’re fully aware and know that you very well could and don’t want you getting even close to your goal.  In the end, you have to live with you choices, they don’t.  So when you choose to make a decision, remember, you have to live with it.  That’s a hell of a lot of responsibility; the possibility of failure is a constant companion when you’re walking close to the razor’s edge.  But does that mean you should live your whole life afraid?

Never be afraid to fail, but never be afraid to take guidance.  It takes more than just you alone to succeed.  Friends and family are usually there to help you realize your dreams.  Understanding that may take a few failures on your own.  Sometimes it even takes someone pushing you to go beyond your limits before you can realize that you've rested idle for too long.  So learn as much as you can from other's mistakes.  Never rest idle, continue to learn every day, improve yourself, either by going back to school, learning a new language, learning a new hobby, just learn more about life and mankind, do or learn something to improve the world. 

My main quote on here isn't there for vanity.  It’s there because conquering and fear come hand in hand.  If people were seeking safety all the time, there would be no advances in just about anything.  Someone had to be the guinea pig, someone had to be the test pilot.  Someone had to risk failure to strive for success, and there are always those who can laugh at that person who falls, but those people are but the scum of society that end up doing nothing of consequence of their lives.

Let ‘em laugh.

So as you cast your sails to the wind and make ready for stormy seas, don’t let fear seize you.  But don’t go out unprepared.  Know that the seas may swallow you whole,  but if you don’t pull up your anchors and set sail, your boat will stay there, safe at harbor with all the other useless yet pretty boats that stay tethered to sanctuary.  People like that will have nothing to talk about but gossip.  People that set off--people like you and I--will have stories of our odysseys, accounts of the stormy seas pounding down on our heads as we gather the sails.  Our hands will be worn, but our lives, our histories will be rich.  Their lives will be like stale bread, crusty shells and bland innards; though their hands will be as soft as the day they were born.

--Hook