Most people I know have never pushed themselves to their limit before and I believe this causes people to have a false sense of what they can accomplish. Their definition of what’s “difficult” for them is based on the most difficult thing they’ve done.
And, while this applies to all areas of life – here’s an example that I witnessed many years ago that enforced this belief.
A story about cicadas
Me and my wife lived in an area that experienced a massive Cicada Brood (basically, a bunch of cicadas invaded our city since we were surrounded by reservations and parks).
My wife was afraid (and hated) all bugs, except maybe ants.
When the cicadas invaded our area – she was terrified and barely left the house. The cicadas covered our apartment building, the streets, and were everywhere. It was difficult to see the traffic lines in the streets due to how many of them covered the street.
It was a wild experience.
But, although my wife was terrified, she had to go outside. She had just graduated from college and was trying to jumpstart her career.
So she went outside every single weekday ducking, flinching, and not wanting to touch any doors (since they were likely covered in cicadas).
After about a month, the cicadas that she feared became more annoying than scary. Obviously, she didn’t like them. But going outside to restaurants and grocery stores wasn’t a big deal anymore. It was just normal life for those couple of months.
She had to accept it and push forward.
Recommended Reading: Willingly Struggle or Be Forced To
Eventually, the cicadas disappeared and we moved to a completely different area. The house we moved to was pretty old and the basement, like almost all old basements, had plenty of creepy bugs.
One day, we were in the basement doing laundry and I flinched due to a big wolf spider crawling on the wall (near my face) that I noticed out of the corner of my eye.
She looked at me slightly startled due by my flinching and asked me what was wrong. I told her and pointed to the spider. She then said “oh you scared me, I thought it was a cicada or something” and continued sorting clothes (she did ask me to get rid of the spider though).
Now, that might not sound like anything noteworthy but, before experiencing that cicada event, my wife would have run upstairs in a panic and refused to come back to the basement. Spiders were a part of the bugs she was afraid of and hated.
But, after being pushed to her limits due to the cicada event – anything that wasn’t as terrifying as a cicada was just “meh”.
Her previous definition of “difficult” was staying in the same room as a spider or centipede for the rest of the day. She’d still be on “alert” the next day even if I already removed the bug.
But now, those experiences are minor compared to her new definition of “difficult”.
So, if possible, try to push yourself to your limits. I try to regularly do this, especially since I have control over the situation. Life is going to constantly push us to our limits by putting us in situations we have no control over (like my wife and the cicada event).
I believe it’s better to willingly put myself in difficult situations in order to push my limits than to be forced into a situation. So that’s how I’ve been living my life for a while now.
And, I’ve noticed by doing this regularly – situations that tend to trigger a lot of different emotions in other people, don’t do much to me anymore. I’ve been through much worse situations than, for example, someone being rude to me.
I have no problem learning high-income skills, house hacking, and was even able to escape the hood because it really wasn’t that difficult compared to some of the limits I’ve pushed myself to.
Ultimately, pushing my limits has broadened my perspective and, I believe, has ultimately made me a better/stronger person.
Recommended Reading: Enough Is All We Need To Be Happy
