Archive for 'risk'
getting outside yourself
July 16th, 2008. Published under reflection, risk. Comments.
When it comes down to it, who has more of a hold on your life… you or the world?
Taking risks are a great way to push yourself beyond what you think you can do and a way to achieve more than you thought was possible. Chances are, though, that the risks you take are actually pretty safe. If you’re like me, there’s a lot at stake on whether or not you succeed. It baffles me, though there are people who don’t put their entire self-worth into “winning”.
I was confronted this weekend with myself in taking on a challenge that had absolutely no way of being won. I found out how much I put into winning and how I change the world around me so that I can win at what I do. I do a lot and I make it look easy. And a lot of people would say I was a risk-taker because of what I’ve achieved, yet it’s never been that risky for me since I knew I could do the things I’m doing.
Well, what a peculiar thing it was to come head-to-head with myself on something that just couldn’t be done, at least not completely. My first impulse was to flat out quit. Take my toys and go home as they say. It took a good long conversation with my wife to get my back on task. (By the way, surrounding yourself with people who are willing to support you is so invaluable!)
I was still skeptical of the process of making the attempt to try. I forged ahead anyway. And, in the process of going non-stop up against something that was impossible was the greatest thing I could have done. That part of me that made everything look easy (though, inside it was safe) was furious! What do you mean do something that can’t be done? He scratched and fought the whole way until I realized that as corny and cliché as the saying was, “it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”
Just showing up was key. And, to give it all even more so. Sometimes you really have to take on more than you know you can handle to get to the you that waits on the other side. The part of you that has been waiting for you to step up and take up more space in the world, the one that knows you are so much more capable than the tiny, safe world you’re living in.
It turns out that I did more in one day than I had in the previous three months. All because I attempted something impossible. I didn’t succeed at what I had set out to do in that day, though the amount of successes I had was more than I thought was capable.
I surprised myself. And, you can too. Make what you do more than you know. Step beyond the known. Get outside yourself.
And have fun doing it!
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