When we are young, we are told that we can achieve whatever it is we desire, if we're willing to work hard for it. I don't know about you, but when people told me this, I always looked a little bit sideways at them, because I always felt like they were telling me just another of the mostly harmless lies that adults like to tell children, like the Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny.
That's because, even I knew at that tender age that I could not have tea with Abraham Lincoln or ride a dinosaur, or travel to Neptune. There are limits to what we can dream and what we can realistically expect to do. And therein lies the dilemma. Because what I can visualize myself doing is profoundly different than what someone else with the same skill set can.
That's because I think a fundamental difference in people lies in their ability to think of their dreams as achievable. I knew lunch with Abe was out of the question, for instance, but other things were more reachable, like getting a college degree and being physically healthy.
For others, they also know they'll never share a baguette with Mr. Lincoln, but they also tell themselves the college degree or healthy body is out of the park, too. And, for some, maybe they are right. maybe they already have limits that would make those things impossible.
But for others, they could do those things and their denial simply serves as a self-imposed limitation to what they will ultimately end up doing (or not doing) with their lives. Like moving to the coast, or to a farm in the country. Or finding love. Or just being happy.
As Richard Bach once said, "Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours."
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