COURAGE MONTH: DAY 24: “Be the kind of person who dares to face life’s challenges and overcome them rather than dodging them.”― Roy T. Bennett
Uh…yeah…let’s do that. Challenges can be an interesting thing to consider. Sometimes it is picking up the 400 pound phone and making a difficult call, or one that Ego tells us is difficult.
Again, it is all about the language we use when we are talking to ourselves about what is going on. It is really never about something being challenging.
A 30-mile hike is challenging for those who don’t know where to start. But there is always a beginning. We can train by going 1 mile or 10 miles to begin with, depending on where we are. Same with a bike ride of many miles. It is a long-time dream for me to walk the Camino in Europe. Last year I learned of a new bone problem in my feet. It could be a preventative problem in walking at all. I let that idea go, not because it was too challenging, but because it is more important that I be able to walk 3 to 5 miles every day, if I want, instead.
Okay. That works for me. I will walk the distance of the Camino in shorter distances in the beauty of the place where I live. Extraordinary walks I get to take nearly every day…what a blessing! I let that be my pilgrimage instead.
We all get to be faced with things that we have to climb over to get where we want to go. We can sit on the couch and cry and whine, or we can get up and do what we dream in creative ways. The point is to get up off the damned couch.
There is a quote I love that states, “Argue loudly enough for your limitations, and sure enough, they are yours.” When we SAY we can’t do something, it becomes true. The lie lives on for us and we are crippled. Not by life, but by our own beliefs. As the old saying goes, “there are no victims, just volunteers.”