I was dancing with my three-year-old nephew recently when his father suddenly stormed into the room. My reflex action was to stop the dance, sit down and look dignified but that wasn’t the case with little nephew. He continued as if absolutely nothing had happened. While thinking about the scenario I concluded one thing: growing up had taken away from me my freedom without bounds. At his age I also would have continued enjoying myself, no one could stop me from doing my favorite pastime then.
A rich friend of mine recalls the incident that led him to decide to pursue business,
“I was shopping for shoes one day, carefully trying to pick the right pair to match many outfits because this was going to be an all-purpose pair. A certain very classy woman entered the same shop and I watched as she did her shopping. She tried on about five pairs of different colors and styles and because she liked them all, she promptly paid for them and left. On that day I decided that I was done living a limited life. I got home, opened my journal of ideas, picked the one I considered best and started working my plan to start the business and the rest is history”
Naomi was illiterate until she was twenty-eight and this is what she has to say, “All it took was me hating the feeling I had when my six-year-old son came asking me to help him with his homework one day. I had always shied away from that as I didn’t want him to consider me dumb. On this particular day though he was very persistent so finally I had to tell him that I couldn’t read or write to which he replied, “But this is easy grade one stuff” I cried when I was alone but after the emotion was gone I decided I wasn’t going to be a limitation to my son’s education and my influence over him so I enrolled in an adult literacy school the very following week and started learning to read and write.”
It took Agnes one sorrowful day for her to go back to the drawing board and remember that her childhood dream was to become a doctor and not the nurse that she had become. A patient needing an operation died on her watch because there was no doctor present and she recalls the patient crying out to them to save him but no one was qualified to. Agnes was an extraordinary nurse who often watched in anticipation when doctors carried out operations but she restrained herself from trying that day because she was scared of what would happen to her should something go wrong. How was she going to face the hospital authorities? After witnessing the death of that patient, she promised herself that enough was enough with being limited to only dressing wounds and the other duties of a nurse. This meant more years of study to finally become a doctor but she did it anyhow.
This life doesn’t last forever and we all don’t know how much of it we still have left so there is no reason to live it constrained. Should all nurses strive to become doctors as Agnes did? No, but all those who have it in their hearts to become more should, by all means, go for it. If you know that there can be more of you then the time to tap into that more is now. Unleash the shackles stopping you from doing the things you desire today.
Living life without limits requires you to face your worst fears.
There are different kinds of fears we all have and some are nothing but plain stupid. It is when you face them that you discover you should never have allowed them to buckle you down in the first place. Don’t wait for a disastrous event like an accident or the loss of a loved one to wake you up from slumber to the realization that you need to enjoy your life.
On the flip side is the need to realize which limits are worth removing from your path. Riding a motorbike with no helmet or driving without buckling up your seat belt wouldn’t be such a good idea. Living with no limits doesn’t mean that you have to become totally unreasonable taking no precautions in the face of danger. You need to learn to categorize the limitations that cost you your pure liberty from the necessary ones meant to protect you.
Seasonally it is a brilliant idea to assess your performance in different sectors of your life and to ask yourself if any clampdowns are hindering your progress.
Declaring your freedom from these is another way to get around it but nothing beats taking actual action despite your fears. Most people are terrified of speaking in public but nothing removes that limitation like deciding to do it anyway. With trembling hands, a dry throat, or and actual sick feeling, you just need to start talking and watch as in no time that feeling soon goes away. The champion in you is meant to be listened to, don’t bow down to the limitation of stage fright. No matter the challenge or the particular fear, cure it today by taking action.
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