Lift Your Limits

I really enjoyed this inspiration from Sooz, author of the Long Legs Short Steps Blog. She talks about "untying her NOT's" as someone who always believed she was NOT athletic, NOT a runner. But she's running anyway!

That same determination works with anything we tell ourselves is impossible for us. It works with writing. We all have limits: "I can only write one hour a week" or "I don't have any good ideas" or "Nobody is interested in what I have to say." These limits are set in our own minds, without our realizing. Thanks to Sooz for this great quote from No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running, by John Bingham:

You can find out that it's possible for you to push your limits to new highs and lows. You can realize that what always seemed like suffering is really your soul being galvanized in the heat of effort. You can discover that you have a deeper strength than you ever imagined. Nothing stops you except your own inertia. Nothing prevents you from joining the ranks of those who have found the magic in movement. Nothing keeps you from starting or improving except your belief that you can't. For 43 years, I was trapped in my own false beliefs. I was trapped in a history of clumsiness and strikeouts and dropped balls. Like so many other less-than-athletically-gifted children, I learned quickly that I was different.

All of that can change with a single step. All the memories of failure and disappointment can be wiped out. Everything you've dreamed you can be, all the moments you've wished you could have, are out there for you. The secret is that there is no secret. The magic is that there is no magic. The answers you are looking for lie somewhere between the bottom of your shoes and the road beneath your feet."


For the writer, answers lie somewhere between your fingertips and the keyboard, or between your pencil and paper. For the artist, they lie between your paintbrush and your canvas. They are close to you; they are a reality waiting for your participation.

What single limit can you lift today on your creating?

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for the shout-out! It absolutely made my day. I'm absolutely loving this journey of discovery that I am on; my running, my writing, and beyond. I can't wait to see where it takes me!

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