The Challenges To Realizing Our Inner Potential
August 21, 2008 by Ryan
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Image by Life in Asia (aka Life in Nanning)
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today I had one of those small victories that you need to overcome your inertia/laziness. I woke up early, put on my running shoes and ran to start my day! It was nice and cool with a bit of a breeze (actually more of a gust, we’re just down from these). Running into the wind was okay because I knew it would be at my back on the return trip. I didn’t know how far I was going to run, I just had a street that I wanted to get to and then turn around. It got my heart beating! It wasn’t until I looked it up on Google Maps that I realized that I ran 1.4 miles! And I did it in about 10 minutes! Considering how long it’s been since I ran, I was ecstatic!
I’ve been meaning to start exercising for a little while now as part of a newly kindled desire to improve myself. This desire has been slow building over time and goes beyond getting in shape. I wrote about Josh Waitzkin’s article in which he discusses learning and learning what quality feels like. That article really made me want to develop myself.
What Lies Behind Us
Life gets busy, and if you don’t consciously decide to act, life will sweep you up and take you in directions you might not want to go. Whether through neglect or through mistakes, the weaknesses we have accumulated hold us back and give us ready excuses not to try. Here are some weaknesses I want to overcome:
- Disorganization: I have so many things going on at the same time, from work to blogging ideas to bills to family to business ideas to errands on and on…and I am not the best multi-tasker around! I get distracted, discouraged and overwhelmed. To improve, I am trying to simplify and prioritize more.
- Out of Shape: I can’t claim sympathy weight anymore! Actually, I never could. Basically, it comes down to poor eating habits (way too much Coke) and lack of activity. I sit at a desk, in front of a computer all day. I think the lack of self control is the worst part of it. I should be in charge, not my urges!
- Debt: Some things come out of nowhere, catch you off guard and put you in a difficult situation. My son Jeremy’s medical expenses came as one of those things. We found out he had spina bifida and that totally altered “the plans” as we assumed they would go. While I would love to say that that is the only source, unfortunately, it’s not. Student loans, car payments, credit cards. Some was necessary, some was not.
What Lies Before Us
Overcoming our baggage is only half. How difficult it can be to actually improve ourselves can also prove to be too great of a obstacle for us. Getting up every morning, forgoing things you want, disciplining yourself are hard things to do. I talk to people at my work who know they need to change, know they can’t keep doing what they’ve been doing, and yet, the commitment and hard work it requires to make the needed changes prevent them from getting out of their rut. The reality is, that’s the price you have to pay. Here are some of the sacrifices I can see I’ll need to make:
- Time: To accomplish my goals, I will need to sacrifice some of the time that I had for other things: sleeping in, staying up late, watching TV, etc. I already consider some of that to be no sacrifice at all, having started this way a while ago. There’s not much TV that interests me anymore (except Michael Phelps…curse you!) and combining the ability to DVR the things I do see (bless you DVR!), I spend very little time watching TV, especially by comparsion to my former use.
- Guilty Pleasures: Today was actually the first day in months that I did not buy a Coke! It’s terrible, I know. Luckily for me, I don’t drink, smoke, chew or drink coffee so I don’t have those challenges to take on (best of luck to those that are trying to kick the habit). The other habit that my family had was eating out all the time. It was ridiculous looking back at our bank statements how much was from restaurants!
What Lies Within Us
I’ve taken my outline from the Emerson quote at the top. He is one of those thinkers whose insights are timeless. He talked about how man is meant to aspire to more than just our instincts to eat and sleep. He wrote, “A man is a god in ruins.” I believe that we have tremendous potential within ourselves and we can realize that potential if we pay the price to develop it. What the human mind and the human body can do is amazing! Look at what Michael Phelps has done: 8 gold medals! But that came as the reward for unyielding focus and effort. That is what I want to develop, the ability to focus and develop and persist until something great happens. I want to be better.
This post is part of my Be Better Campaign Series
- The Challenges To Realizing Our Inner Potential
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3 Responses to “The Challenges To Realizing Our Inner Potential”
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Awesome, I have been feeling the same way. I used to have all these goals and would actually meet some of them. I used to have discipline. Then I was listening to a talk in church and the person talked about reaching towards perfection a little at a time, and I thought, what am I even working on? So, good job on running! Keep it up, it’s a great time to sift through all the stuff in your day ahead.
Ryan, this is a great post, and something I personally need. I have been struggling to find my way since moving from big city Dallas in Texas to tiny town in rural Kansas, where there are more cows than people, to get married last year. I used to work out 5-7 times a week and had great external motivation and support - my gym was at the end of the block, and I loved beyond words my gym instructor and he and I became friends that did things outside the gym as well. Consequently I lost a lot of weight and felt great. In the space of a year’s time, I have gained weight, don’t work out, and have done more pouting than coping about the lifestyle changes. But those things are behind me, now I have to figure out what’s in front of me, and actually DO the Couch-to-5K program that I began, which as you know involves less brain stimulation time on the computer, as well as less Coke. I hear ya, brother. Thanks for more great mental sustenance with this post.
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Great post, I like running as well but haven’t done it a while. Yesterday I went to play basketball - because now I have a playground close to my apartment - I was playing good and felt great afterward. What it boils down to is that we all need to keep ourselves moving.
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