Loving Your Limitations

Loving Your Limitations

Some people go through life thoroughly dissatisfied because of what they can’t do or can’t be. It’s hard not to compare yourself with others as media glamorized that success comes only to those who are exceptionally talented, beautiful, athletic, witty, etc. But that’s where the problem starts – each of us are individuals and have our own talents that we can make use of. Instead of getting frustrated, why don’t you just concentrate on your own and accept your limitations?

Consider this: half the people you know probably know something about basketball. But all of them put together couldn’t probably hold a candle to a great basketball star such as Michael Jordan. Now basketball in its simplest form deals with science – what position to use to shoot the ball is all about angles; how efficiently you could dribble and move is all about force; gravity-defying leaps is all about strength, etc. What if Albert Einstein decided that he wants to be a basketball star since simple science is a piece of cake for him? Can you imagine the consequence of that? The whole world would have been deprived of the genius of such an exceptional man for sure! At the same token that the NBA would have suffered if Michael Jordan decided to dabble on science instead of the basketball court. That is not to say that Einstein or Jordan wouldn’t have known what to do in each other’s field – for all we know, Einstein loved dribbling and Jordan could have gotten high grades in science. It’s simply that it will be a waste of their abilities since their talent lies elsewhere.

That goes the same for you. If you know that you can sing pop but not opera, stick to the version you can be confident with. If you can tackle accounting figures but can’t even start a simple story, stick to the numbers. If you love writing but will faint at public speaking, go for the pen. It doesn’t mean that you have a defeatist attitude but that you’ve used your talent and have truly accomplished a lot just by doing it. Remember that some people don’t even use theirs at all. Knowing your limits frees you from the stress of going for an ambition that you were never equipped to be. The beauty of it is you don’t have to aim for something beyond what you can do. Let others have their own niche. Just enjoy what you can. Better yet love your limitations – you’ll find yourself happier that way.